Secrets
by Shroedinger
Summary: Sam reveals a secret to her team, while a Goa’uld threatens to overthrow the System Lords. SJ eventually UPDATE: On hiatus due to my poor health, but I hope to update soon. 72606
1. Surprises

Secrets

by Shroedinger

Rating: PG-13 (Just to be safe. There might be violence or adult situations later, but nothing graphic)

Spoilers: Movie, First Commandment, Divide and Conquer, Seth, Secrets,

The Tok'ra Parts I and II, Seth, The Devil You Know, Jolinar's Memories

Category: Angst, S/J UST/Romance

Pairing: Sam/Jack

Time Frame: 4th Season, post Divide and Conquer

Summary: Sam reveals a secret to her team, while a Goa'uld threatens to overthrow the System Lords.

  
Authors Note: This is my first fanfic! So feel free to tell me what you like and don't like. I was inspired by an idea in the fanic "It's About Life" by Assilem, and asked her if I could draw from her idea. But read this chapter first before you go read hers, or it will spoil any surprises! Thanks also to my younger sister fallingfromelysium for betaing this for me (even though getting her to do it was like pulling teeth). I've got to warn you that this is barely the beginning. It's going to be a long story, and I hope you will like it! Please review. I have about eleven thousand words typed up so far, but nothing is set in stone until i've posted it (and maybe not even then). Enjoy!

* * *

"From the images transmitted by the MALP, these people appear to be descendants from a sub-Saharan tribe of Africa, most likely from what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo as evident from--"

"Ah, Daniel," Jack interrupted, before the archeologist could get too wrapped up in anthropological minutia. "Forgive my bluntness, but can you summarize for us why we should care?" From across the briefing room table Sam hid a smile from her CO. Jack O'Neill had no more patience for Daniel's details than for her 'technobabble.'

"Jack," Daniel continued, with a hint of impatience in his voice. "This is a unique opportunity to see the isolated evolution of an African tribal people transplanted thousands of years ago. Most of sub-Saharan culture has been overrun by European Colonization or civil war."

"While I realize you find all of this...fascinating," Jack paused for dramatic effect, "why must we go? From what I've seen this is a mission for one of the more scientifically minded teams. I haven't seen evidence of any important minerals, let alone something we can fight the Goa'uld with."

Sam could practically see Daniel restrain himself from rolling his eyes at Jack's priorities, as she and Teal'c watched on with amusement (although Teal'c would never show it). "These are the first people of sub-Saharan

Africa we've encountered, out of the hundreds of societies we've visited in the past three years. Why haven't we encountered any before now? What made the Goa'uld--"

Daniel was again interrupted, this time by a bashful Lieutenant Simmons, who received a glare of frustration. "I'm sorry to interrupt sir," he addressed General Hammond. "But I have a phone call from off base for Major Carter. I'm told it's an emergency."

At this, Daniel forgave him as all eyes turned to Sam with concern. An emergency? What kind of emergency would require contacting her on base? And for that matter, who off base even knew how to contact her at work?

"Thank you Lieutenant, she can take it in my office." At this, General Hammond nodded to Major Carter. She stood quickly and entered his office, closing the door behind her. Her teammates watched in contemplative silence as she left, a tense and distracted look on her face, although she met no one's eyes.

Moments after her departure, the Colonel broke the silence. "An emergency? Off base?" He looked to Daniel. "Do you have any idea what this could be about?"

Daniel opened his mouth to say respond, but the General beat him to it. "I'm sure the Major will inform you if she chooses to, Colonel." As Jack met the General's eye he saw that he was clearly not supposed to pursue

this—which only piqued his curiosity. But before he or the General could say anything further, Sam returned looking somewhat paler than usual.

"General, could I speak to you in your office for a moment?"

"Of course." As they left to speak behind a closed door, Sam's three remaining team members exchanged glances, and even Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Keeping his voice low, Daniel asked Jack, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Staring at the door with such intensity Daniel wondered if he was trying to see through it, Jack answered "No. What do you think she couldn't discuss in front of us?"

"Maybe something with her brother or his family? She isn't seeing anyone is she?" Daniel mused, and watched Jack try to hide his reaction to the latter question. Surprise and something that looked vaguely like distress, quickly schooled back into an expression of contemplation.

"I don't believe so..." but there was doubt in his answering voice he couldn't hide even from himself. Wouldn't she have said something if she was? Or maybe she wasn't comfortable telling him. Things hadn't been the same between them since the za'tarc fiasco just a couple of weeks before. And he didn't think they ever would be. Luckily Carter and the General reentered then, before he could travel too far down what was turning out to be a dead end road.

Well, the General re-entered. Carter left the office and walked quickly out of the room. The General cleared his throat to gather their attention, and spoke. "This mission is postponed until further notice. Major Carter is going to be taking at least three days of personal leave. If it turns out she needs more than that, we'll discuss temporary assignments for the three of you. Dismissed."

"Excuse me Sir," the Colonel asked hesitantly. "Should we contact Jacob?"

"Not in this case, son," the General answered with what sounded suspiciously like a hint of regret.

With that the three practically bolted after Carter (well, Teal'c was a bit more reserved). The Colonel caught up with her first, as she was leaving the locker room dressed in civvies and muttering to herself. She saw him coming, and looked as if she was dreading this inevitable confrontation. Walking toward the elevator, and swiping her ID, she sighed and turned to him.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'd rather not get into this right now," she told him before he even had the chance to ask a question. At this point Daniel joined them, and asked, "Sam, what's going on? Is there anything we can do?"

She smiled at his concern, but shook her head as she entered the elevator. They followed. "Don't worry guys, I'm sure everything will be fine. There would be a lot of explaining to do, and I'd rather not get into it."

Daniel was less than satisfied with the answer, as was Jack who had yet to get a word in. Daniel opened his mouth to ask another question, but this time Jack was faster. "Is there anything you can share with us, anything we can do?"

Sam sighed, staring into space as she considered what to say. She owed them her honesty, and should probably have told them all before now. But she hadn't, and now was certainly not the time. She was too preoccupied more than a little stressed, and couldn't find the energy to explain everything. "Not right now, but I promise at some point I will tell you everything. I just can't deal with this right now."

Daniel nodded, saying, "As long as you know that we're here for you if you need anything." Sam smiled, and squeezed his shoulder as she thanked him. The three rode to the surface in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Jack watched Carter carefully, gathering what information he could. She looked impatient to get to the surface, and was biting her lower lip in an unconscious habit he knew signaled anxiety. He had the uneasy feeling that there was something going on with her the General was privy to, but that rest of the team was in the dark about. Something big. It just didn't sit right.

They passed through the final checkpoint, signing out, as Daniel and Jack walked her to her car. Carter of course protested. "You guys can go back to work. Don't worry, I can take care of this."

So as they watched her drive away by herself, Jack left Daniel standing alone and walked to his car. Daniel quickly turned on his heel and followed.

"Jack? What are you doing?" The Colonel had reached the car and was unlocking it and getting in.

"I'm following her. Something isn't adding up here, and I want to know what."

Daniel didn't think this was a good idea, and voiced his opinion (while getting in the passenger seat of course) "This is really none of our business. You know that right?"

"It is our business Daniel," Jack said as they exited the parking lot, and headed to the first checkpoint. "She is our friend and something is obviously going on with her. It is our business to make sure she doesn't need help and is just being too stubborn to ask for it."

"If you say so Jack," Daniel admitted reluctantly. "She is still not going to be happy when she sees us behind her.

Carter didn't notice them behind her because she was far too wrapped up in her own thoughts. The school hadn't given her much information, and she had a thousand questions of her own. What exactly had happened?

Was she going to be okay? How bad were her injuries? She had put on a brave face for the guys so they would leave her to handle this herself, but the truth was she was incredibly worried. Now left alone with her thoughts she imagined the worst, and pressed the gas pedal a little harder. She needed answers.

"Where is she going?" Daniel said out loud, voicing Jack's thoughts as well. They were nowhere near the part of town where she lived, and seemed to be heading into downtown Colorado Springs. Their unease only increased as they watched her, four cars ahead of them, turn into the Emergency Room parking lot at the Memorial Hospital. They followed, but had a difficult time finding a parking spot so weren't able to catch up to her before she entered the hospital. Once parked they jogged after her, trying not to lose sight of her.

Inside the busy ER waiting room, they saw her speaking to someone at the desk, but couldn't make out the words over the distance. The receptionist nodded and responded, before calling over a nurse. The nurse led her over to a curtained off examination area. They had just about caught up with her at this point, but hesitated at barging in on whoever was being treated behind that curtain. What they heard next stopped them both in their tracks. It sounded like a little girl, tearfully exclaiming, "Mommy!"

But that wasn't the surprise. It was the sound of Sam responding, "I'm here sweetheart."


	2. Revelations

A/N: Pardon my exposition. I promise there will be action soon! And the site won't display any of my scene markers, so i'm using horizontal lines as it seems to find those acceptable. Does that make it easier to read?   
Oh, and I think i forgot a disclaimer before. Here it is: Disclaimer: Only Paige and Helen are mine. I'm just borrowing the rest.

* * *

Jack and Daniel stood there in shock for a moment, staring at each other in surprise, before Jack motioned for them to step away from the curtain. They claimed two chairs in the waiting room and sat down next to each other.

"What just happened?" Jack asked, with confusion evident in his voice.

"I think...I think...it sounded like Sam has a daughter," Daniel answered, hesitantly. "But that doesn't seem possible, does it? We've known her for years!" Daniel exclaimed in a low voice, trying not to alert Sam to their presence just yet. "How could we not have known? How do hide the fact that you have a daughter? I mean—" he stopped. "Why do you hide it?"

Jack didn't answer, staring over at the curtain. Carter had a daughter? When did this happen? Who did this happen with? He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

As he watched his musings were broken by movement as the curtain was pulled aside and a stretcher was wheeled out. He couldn't see the child, as she was shielded by a nurse and Carter, who walked beside it. A doctor trailed behind, writing orders on a chart. Carter stopped, allowing the doctor to catch up to her. She had one arm wrapped around her waist, and had her other hand resting against her lips. It was body language that broadcast a sense of insecurity neither Daniel nor Jack had ever seen from her. The doctor spoke some final words to her, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she nodded. Carter then watched as the doctor followed the gurney out of the ER before turning and collapsing into a chair with her head in her hands.

* * *

Daniel glanced over at Jack, looking to him for some clue as to how to alert her to their presence. Neither wanted to be the one to do it, but she certainly looked as if she needed some support. Jack shrugged back, uncomfortable in what was obviously an emotionally charged situation. Daniel shook his head and pointed to Jack. This was his idea! So Jack bit the bullet, and walked over to her with Daniel trailing hesitantly behind.

"Carter?" he asked warily.

Her head shot up in surprise, and she quickly wiped what looked suspiciously like tears from her face. "Sir?! What are you doing here?" She spied Daniel behind him. "Daniel. I thought I told you guys to stay out of this?"

Uh oh. Now she sounded angry, which had definitely not been their intention. Jack looked to Daniel, indicating that they were in need of his diplomatic skills. Bracing himself, he stepped forward.

"Its not like that Sam! We were just worried, and wanted to make sure you would be alright."

Sam's anger deflated, as did she. She looked exhausted. "I'm guessing now you have more questions than answers," she said falteringly.

"Uh, yeah," the Colonel answered honestly.

She nodded. "Call Teal'c," she said with a sigh. "Tell him to come here, and I'll explain everything." This was not a conversation she was looking forward to. She had secrets. Secrets she had kept for a very long time, for some very good reasons. She trusted the guys with her life, but this was different. This was somehow even more important than all of that, and she hoped they would understand.

* * *

The Colonel called Teal'c and had him arrange for a ride over, then called the General and explained the situation. He and Daniel had kind of left the base without warning. The General sounded understanding, but left him with a warning. "Listen to her Jack. She needs your support right now, not your judgment. She had her reasons." Jack couldn't wait to hear her explain all of this. His imagination was taking a stab at it, and he didn't like the results.

* * *

Teal'c arrived a half an hour later, looking unassailable as ever. Sam greeted him, and led her team-mates out of the ER to the pediatric surgical waiting room in an adjacent wing of the hospital. She explained as they walked that a nurse would be bringing her updates periodically.

They sat, watching her expectantly, as she braced herself for the conversation to come.

* * *

"The emergency call I received during this morning's briefing was from a pre-school here in Colorado Springs." She paused. "My daughter's pre-school."

At this Teal'c raised an eyebrow, and responded, "I was not aware you had any children Major Carter."

She shook her head. "Most people aren't."

Having by this time come to terms with the fact that Sam had a daughter, though he still didn't know how, Daniel was curious as to the nature of the phone call and subsequent hospital visit. "What was the phone call about?" he asked with concern.

Sam took a deep breath. "Apparently during recess she took a bad fall from the monkey bars, broke her right arm badly and hit her head. She was unconscious for several minutes, so they suspect she has a concussion. They just went into surgery now to set her arm. It needs a couple of pins to hold it in place." At this point her voice cracked in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, and Daniel took her hand. Jack wanted to, but held himself back. She collected herself and continued. "She will be spending staying in pediatrics under observation at least overnight to monitor the concussion. They don't want to take any chances. She should be fine, but it was still quite a scare."

"I understand," said the Colonel, drawing her attention. He remembered how every bump or bruise was a source of concern when Charlie was little. She met his eyes and smiled sadly at him, responding quietly, "I'm sure you do."

Unheeding of the understanding being shared by the two, Daniel broke the moment with another question. "What's her name?" he asked. Now that they understood that morning's occurrences, he had a few other questions and figured he should start with the most basic information first.

Sam smiled at this. "Paige Elisabeth Carter. Her middle name was my mother's."

"Its beautiful Sam," said Daniel with a smile. Teal'c nodded his agreement and added, "I am certain your mother would be honored."

"Thanks you guys."

"You said she's in preschool," said Jack, and Sam nodded. "That makes her, what, three? Four?"

"She will be four in a couple of months," Sam answered, then lowered her voice and looked away. "She is the reason I couldn't go on the first mission through the Gate. I was about three months along when you two went through."

Delaying the question he really wanted to ask, considering Paige's paternity, Jack asked, "Who knows about her? And why is she a secret? I can't see why you would need to hide her existence."

Sam hesitated. This was where things got complicated. "General Hammond knows, and Janet. The General because I needed his help to keep this quiet, and Janet because my medical records show I've had a child." And how to explain the rest of this..."She is a secret because she is Jonas'." She paused, practically cringing as she waited for their reactions. The Colonel couldn't help himself, and was the first to speak.

"Jonas Hanson? The ex-fiancé? The one who"—he glanced around him and lowered his voice—"went off the deep end?"

Sam grimaced at his description, but nodded. "I found out I was pregnant shortly before he proposed. It was the reason I accepted the ring. But I couldn't go through with it. I decided I would rather raise her alone then with him. So I gave the ring back. And I never told him I was pregnant."

Her three teammates sat in silence for a moment, absorbing her news. Jack shuddered at the thought of that lunatic raising a child. He had never been so glad she had returned that ring in his life. And he was beginning to understand her situation a little bit better. He broke from is thoughts as she continued.

"The breakup was horrible. And I knew he hated me for it. So I couldn't let him know about her. I couldn't risk him taking her away from me." She looked uncertain as she took a breath, gauging their reactions. "I know I'm not the best mother in the world. I have a job where I risk my life on a daily basis, work long hours, and definitely can't provide any sort of father figure. But at the end of the day Paige is all I have. I do it for her, to keep her safe. I couldn't live with myself otherwise.

"When we were in D.C., while I worked at the Pentagon it wasn't so hard. She was about six months old when we moved here, for the mission to get you, Daniel." Daniel nodded at this, trying to imagine the eager young Captain he had met with a six month old baby. When he remembered how good she was with Cassie, it wasn't so hard.

"When I found out that Jonas was being posted at Cheyenne too, I knew I couldn't let it become common knowledge that I had a child. He would have made the assumption she was his and taken her, or accused me of cheating on him and demanded a paternity test. Or worse. He was dangerous, as I'm sure you remember, and wanted to hurt me in any way he could." Her teammates all nodded at this. "It was hard enough to avoid him as it was and I couldn't take the risk."

"But he's been dead for almost three years," said Daniel, with a frown. "Why couldn't you tell us once he was gone?"

"It's not so much that I couldn't tell you," said Sam, gesturing to the three of them. "I just have chosen to keep it from becoming common knowledge around base. Jonas had an older brother who is also Air Force, a JAG actually, who teaches at the Academy. He has never forgiven me for giving the ring back, and never saw the changes in his brother that we did. I have nothing against lawyers in general, most are decent people. But Thomas would use his legal knowledge to have me declared an unfit mother and get custody. I've run into him when I've guest lectured at the Academy, and our confrontations have never ended well. I can't risk it.

"If I had a less dangerous job with better hours it wouldn't be such an issue. Or if I was married or," she blushed, "even had a steady boyfriend maybe." Jack couldn't say he was sorry about that last part, although he told himself he should be. "As a single mother whose life is constantly at risk…he would win."

"And us?" Daniel pressed, still not certain why she hadn't trusted them. "I'm sure you trust we would have been similarly discrete."

"Of course!" she responded, shaking her head. "But I still didn't know any of you that well when Jonas died. You guys are family now, but then I was still uncertain. Then suddenly so much time had already passed I had no idea how to bring it up." She laughed, but without much humor. "Sorry guys, I can't make it to the team night because I have a PTA meeting. Did I forget to mention I have a three-year-old?" she parodied. "If it makes you feel any better, neither my brother nor my father know either." This surprised even Teal'c.

"Dad doesn't know?" Jack asked, practically taking the words out of Daniel's open mouth. He had known she and her brother weren't especially close. But now that her father was a Tok'ra, the two seemed to get along well.

"I was going to tell him after we returned from out last," she paused, and glanced around, before finishing with "trip together." She couldn't think of any other way to subtly mention their mission to Netu. "But he wasn't able to stay long enough for me to broach the subject. He was called back almost immediately after our flight landed." And he had been as soon as they landed at the Tok'ra base to return the Tel'tak and rest before gating back to Earth. There had been no father-daughter vacation, to the disappointment of both.

"Before that he had only been able to visit twice since he recovered from the cancer," she pointed out. "And both visits were business related."

"What about when you both went out to visit your brother after we handled that problem with our mutual friend Seth?" Daniel asked, keeping his voice low near the end of the question just in case. But Seth was a common name, right?

"I considered it." She shook her head. "But neither of us had even spoken to Mark in years, and I didn't want to spring that on him when it had been hard enough to get him to go in the first place. It would only have given him an excuse not to go."

"And I'm guessing your brother wouldn't have taken your revelation as much of an olive branch," Jack agreed.

"No," she said chuckling lightly. "That trip was exciting as it was. And I didn't want Dad and Mark to have anything new to fight about. When I tell them, it will be separately."

"How have you managed to care for such a young child while working such long hours?" Teal'c asked. "I remember well the energy Rya'c had at such an age, and this made parenting no easy task even with a partner."

"I had help, and God knows I needed it when she started walking!" she responded, smiling at the memory. "I have a nanny, Helen, who has been taking care of her during the days. She should actually be here soon," she said, glancing around the waiting room. "I gave her a call on my cell while we were waiting for Teal'c," she explained, "so she wouldn't have to hear it from her teachers when she arrived to pick her up from school, and she insisted on coming down. Helen has been like a grandmother to Paige, and very supportive of me."

"What about when we're…on a trip or…stranded?" Jack asked, thinking of their time in Antarctica. "Keeping to a schedule isn't something we do well."

Sam nodded. "Helen understands, and doesn't mind. If we know we're going to be away overnight Janet takes her at night. And in emergencies where Janet can't take her Helen doesn't mind spending the night at my place, or taking her home with her. I don't always work as much as it appears." She glanced at the Colonel. "I didn't actually turn down your last fishing invitation for work. Paige and I took a little mother-daughter road trip."

"You could have brought her." A three-year-old would definitely have kept things from going too far, Jack thought, but wisely chose not to share. Sam just shook her head.

"It certainly isn't easy, but I do the best I can." She had considered leaving SG1 on multiple occasions, but had never been able to go through with it. This incident had the possibility lingering in the back of her mind again.

"So, wow," said Daniel, his above average vocabulary apparently at a loss. "You have a daughter."

"Ya think?" Jack said as he rolled his eyes. Sam laughed and was about to respond when something caught her eye.

"Helen!" she said, rising and walking to meet an older woman who had just entered the waiting room. She looked to be in her mid-fifties with mostly gray hair and a smart outfit of slacks and a sweater. Grandmotherly, but in a modern way. She and Sam embraced, and she took Sam's hands in hers as she pulled away.

"How is she dear?" she asked, not yet having noticed the now standing trio.

"She went in almost an hour ago, and we haven't heard anything yet," Sam said, the worry she had been distracted from during her conversation with her teammates returning. "I was told a nurse would come to give me an update at some point, but I haven't heard anything yet. Hopefully someone will be by soon."

"Of course. I'm sure everything is going well." Then she noticed the men standing patiently behind Sam. "And who have we here?"

Carter turned, and introduced them. Helen shook hands with each and seemed impressed, saying with amusement, "No wonder you spend so much time in that mountain if you get to work with such handsome young men as these." Daniel tried, but couldn't hide his blush.

Before anything more could be said, a nurse entered and caught Sam's attention. "Dr. Carter?" she asked, and received a nod in confirmation. "The surgery went well and Dr. Miller is just closing. He should be in about thirty minutes to speak with you, and then you can visit her in recovery." Sam accepted the news gratefully, and the nurse left.

"Thank God," she said, releasing a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding. Suddenly weary, she sat down on the nearest couch where she was joined by the other four waiting with her. Helen took the place next to her, and put an arm around her comfortingly.

"The worst is over," she said. "And I'm sure Paige will be back to herself in no time." The guys echoed her sentiments, and Sam tried to take it to heart. But she knew she wouldn't fully relax until her daughter was home safe and sound.


	3. Meetings

Here's chapter three. Chapter 4 should be up by the end of the weekend (if there is sufficient demand of course!) : )

* * *

Only two visitors were allowed at a time in recovery, and it was agreed that Helen would be the first to go in with Sam. The nurse led them in, and Sam finally got to see her little girl. She looked like she was sleeping, and had yet to wake up from the anesthesia. Her right forearm had been bandaged and covered with an air-cast to prevent the child from disturbing the stitches. And the golden hair that usually fell just past her shoulders had been swept back in what looked like a shower cap, which the nurse told Sam she could remove. She gently did, and the motion seemed to disturb the child's slumber. She moaned quietly, and shook her head slightly as if to clear it.

"Paige," Sam called gently, running her fingers soothingly through her daughter's hair. "It's time to wake up baby."

"Mommy?" she asked, her voice groggy. "My tummy hurts."

A nurse overheard, and came over. "That's from the medicine we gave you to put you to sleep, Paige," she said. "You'll feel better soon." To Sam she said, "I'll give her something through the IV that will help with the nausea."

Sam nodded her thanks, and turned back to her daughter, who had just barely opened her blue eyes and was whimpering softly. "Shhh Paige. You'll feel better soon. I know none of this has been any fun, but you've been very brave. I'm so proud of you. And guess who came to visit you?" She turned to Helen, who stepped up and took the little girl's hand.

"Hi sweetheart," she said, and Paige turned to face her. "Don't you worry about a thing. You're going to be feeling right as rain in no time. Ok?" Paige nodded, and drifted off, only asleep this time. She had had an exhausting morning. Helen embraced Sam and told her to keep her updated before departing.

Shortly after she had left, Daniel came in as the first to meet Sam's daughter. Well, see her anyway. The meeting could wait until she was conscious. Sam was sitting in a chair to the left of the bed, her daughter's hand clasped between hers. He came in quietly so as not to disturb Paige, and rested his hand on Sam's shoulder to alert her to his presence. She looked up, trying to hide her nervousness at this meeting. So much had changed in the last few hours and she was still reeling.

Daniel smiled to reassure her. "She looks just like you. How is she?"

"The doctor says she broke both bones in her right forearm. One was a clean break, and could have been set with just a cast. But the other one broke in two places, and the segments were displaced. That's why they had to operate."

Daniel glanced down at little girl's bandaged arm. He had had his fair share of broken bones, but luckily none had required surgery to set. "What happens now?"

"The bones have been set and secured together with permanent pins and screws." She brushed her fingertips lightly over the bandages, thankful that the grisly surgery was over. "This actually means she will be able to be active again sooner than if the bones had just been set with a cast. But she will still be on some strong pain medications that will make her drowsy, and will have to be careful with the stitches at the site. She'll have to wear a sling for the first couple of days to restrict her movements. And she can't get it wet for about a week, which will make bath time…an adventure." She chuckled at this last part, trying to imagine how she was going to restrain her water loving daughter.

Daniel also smiled at the image. "Does she like the water?"

"Yes. I don't know who gets wetter when she takes a bath, her or me."

"I'm sure you have all sorts of stories to share, but there is plenty of time for that later. I'm going to go, so the others can see her." He squeezed her shoulder in a show of support and she thanked him with a small smile and nod.

"Just wait 'til she's back on her feet. I'm sure she's going to love you guys."

"Remember that if there's anything you need, we're here for you. Ok?" Daniel said, pausing as he went to pull back the curtain.

"Thanks Daniel."

Teal'c stayed only briefly, in support of Major Carter and curiosity of the appearance of her daughter. He made one comment, and as usual it proved that when he did choose to speak it was because he had something important to say. Teal'c would never be accused of speaking simply to hear the sound of his own voice.

"Although she is young, if your daughter is anything like you Major Carter, she will endure this trial admirably and learn from it in the process."

Sam was floored by the praise. She had always been uncomfortable with compliments, and never knew how to respond. That Teal'c considered her so highly warmed her heart, as did his confidence in her daughter—who he hadn't actually even met. Thank you didn't seem adequate, so she stood and gave him a hug and a chaste peck on the cheek.

"I'm touched Teal'c, thank you. I'm so glad you guys are here today. You've made this day much easier for me."

"I am glad. I will now return to the waiting room. Colonel O'Neill will be in shortly." With that he gave a small bow in goodbye, and departed.

* * *

The Colonel was next. She chided herself for feeling nervous. Things had been uncomfortable between herself and the Colonel since the Za'tarc testing. Neither knew how what had been revealed would or should affect them. It had been easier before because she had thought her feelings were unrequited, and could just shrug it off as a crush. A big crush. But her feelings were not only requited, but he would rather die than lose her! What exactly did that mean? He "cared" about her. Where on the scale from 'didn't mind her presence' to 'madly in love with' did that fall?

Not that it mattered. She had avoided discussing it with him (and what a fun discussion that would have been!) because it was better that she didn't know. In the impossible event that he did feel anything even approaching love for her, they couldn't do anything about it. In fact, since the testing she had mulled over every word, glance, or accidental touch in fear that someone would misconstrue an offhand comment as proof they were breaking regulations. And they weren't! They couldn't.

She almost sighed. And now she was about to be alone with only him and her sleeping daughter, in the midst of what was a very personal situation.

Oh boy…

"Knock, knock" said someone from the other side of the curtain.

"Come in, Sir."

"So this is the one all the fuss is about," he said with a smile. He pulled up another chair and took a seat next to her. After a moment, he said, "You have a beautiful little girl. She looks just like you."

"Thank you, Sir." She tried not to blush. Was he implying she was beautiful? God, she really was second guessing everything.

"Mommy?" said a sleepy voice, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," Sam said. She took Paige's hand in her own, and ran her fingers through the little girl's long blonde locks. "How are you feeling sweetheart? I heard you had an exciting morning."

"Sleepy. I fell and hurt my arm." She pointed to her right arm, and seemed to find the air cast amusing.

"So I heard. What happened?"

"It was Billy's fault. He dared me to climb to the top. Almost made it too." She pouted for a moment, looking more disappointed that she hadn't proved Billy wrong than because she had broken her arm.

The Colonel chuckled at this, reminding Carter of his presence. In her attention to her daughter she had forgotten.

"She's definitely your daughter Carter." He said, with a smirk. "She's got the same competitive streak."

"Paige," Sam said, drawing the little girl's attention back from the man next to her. "I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Colonel O'Neill. I work with him."

"Hello Paige. You can call me Jack." He smiled and gave a little wave. She looked a little wary, but gave a small 'hi' in return. "How old are you?" he asked, trying to draw her out a bit.

"Three!" she said enthusiastically, holding up three fingers with her left hand proudly.

"Three!" he said with mock surprise. "Wow, you're getting quite old there young lady. You going to drive us all home tomorrow?"

"No!" she said with a giggle. He couldn't help but glance at Carter next to him. That was a very familiar giggle. "You're silly," she decided, but she didn't seem to consider it a bad thing.

Sam couldn't help smiling at them as the Colonel teased Paige playfully. This was a side of him she hadn't really seen. He was great with Cassie of course, but she was much older. A lot of guys were intimidated by small children. Her work schedule wasn't the only reason the only potential men in her life were aliens. Well…all the non court-martialable ones anyway.

The Colonel was positively adorable; teasing her about how it was a shame she wasn't going to get a plaster cast. "That would have been useful in showing Billy a thing or two." Even Sam smiled at that. But she couldn't help sobering at the thought that he must have been a great father. Today had scared a couple of years off her life and all Paige had done was broken her arm. The though of losing Paige like he had lost Charlie was unbearable. She gave her daughter's hand a squeeze, more for her own reassurance than Paige's.

* * *

A short time later Paige was moved into the pediatric ward, her doctors now convinced that she was sufficiently recovered from the anesthesia. Sam was warned that it would be a little while before it was completely out of her system. Combined with the pain medications she was on, Paige was going to be taking a lot of naps in the next couple of days. Sam was silently grateful. Paige might not mind the air-cast, but the sling was not going to go over well. The less active her daughter was inclined to be, the easier this would be for everyone.

Daniel and Teal'c met them as Paige was being moved into her room, but the movement of the gurney had unsurprisingly lulled the little girl back to sleep. It was a semi-private room with two beds, but Paige didn't have a roommate so it was just them. Sam told them they didn't have to stay, but they wanted to anyway. There weren't going to leave her alone to dwell on the 'what ifs" quite yet. So they pulled up some chairs, and settled in.

"Has she woken up at all yet since the surgery?" Daniel asked, concerned. She had come out of surgery more than an hour ago, and he wasn't sure if this was normal.

Sam nodded. "She woke up while the Colonel was with us." She shared a smile with him as she thought of her little girl's explanation for the morning's events.

"Apparently she was climbing to the top because Billy dared her to," the Colonel explained, and Daniel unknowingly echoed Jack's earlier words with a smile.

"She's definitely your daughter Sam."

With mock hurt, Sam defended herself. "There is nothing wrong with a little competitiveness. It just got out of hand in this case."

"I am confident that with age she will better learn to choose her battles," said Teal'c. He had seen many young and inexperienced warriors injured or killed because they were overeager to engage in battle.

A volunteer came in then bringing a tray of food for Paige, which Sam set aside. She would let her daughter rest a little longer before waking her for lunch. The though of food made her own stomach growl though and she glanced at her watch, surprised to find it was already after one. The guys also noted the time, and volunteered to head down to the cafeteria to find something for all of them. After taking her order for a ham sandwich and diet soda, they set off.

Sam took that time to use the phone next to her daughter's bed to call the base and give Janet an update, which she knew would be passed on to the General. Neither had much information when she had left the base in a whirlwind that morning, and she knew both would be worrying.

"Frasier," Janet answered.

"Hi Janet."

"Sam! It's great to hear from you. How is Paige doing?" Memorial hospital was a cutting edge facility, and had an extensive pediatrics department. She was confident that Paige was in good hands, but couldn't help worrying anyway.

"She's going to be fine," Sam said, with an audible sign of relief. It was one thing to say it, but it was another thing entirely to believe it. She almost had herself convinced. "She fell off the monkey bars, hit her head, and broke her right forearm in three places."

"Wow. She certainly did a number on herself. Did they have to set the bones surgically?"

"Yes. We just moved from recovery to her room in Pedi, and they guys are finding lunch for the rest of us. She woke up for a little bit in recovery, but at the moment she's asleep."

"I expect she'll sleeping a lot today. She had quite a busy morning." Janet paused, knowing her next question was going to be treading on sensitive territory. "The General told me the guys were with you. How did they take it?" She knew Sam had been agonizing for some time on how to tell them, and had worried about their reactions.

"Actually," Sam started, "they have been great. I don't know why I was so worried. They understand why I've done what I've done, and have really helped me get through this. I don't know if they would have been more upset if they had discovered her in another situation, but I was far too much on edge already so they let it go." The guys really had made this whole morning a lot less stressful; in the end anyway. When she had first seen them she had been more anxious than the last time she had faced a system lord. But she would probably have driven the nurses crazy if they hadn't been there to distract her during the surgery. "I don't think I ever realized how much I wanted to share this with them. Their acceptance and support is very important to me and I was afraid I wouldn't get it. Now that I have, I feel…liberated almost." She laughed quietly at her description. "I know it sounds like something out of a B movie, but I feel as if my family is finally whole." Almost whole anyway. For the time being she was going to ignore the voice in the back of her mind that sounded annoyingly like her biological clock.

Janet understood completely. "Until now you've been keeping a lot of secrets in your life. It's difficult enough to have to keep your professional life a secret from anyone who isn't involved, including family. To have to keep your family a secret from the people you work with—risk your life with—day in and day out is hard. Now that one of those barriers is down, you are bound to feel relieved." As someone who had been helping her maintain this secret she felt it too.

"Was she awake enough to meet any of the guys?"

"She slept through Daniel and Teal'c in recovery, but woke up while the Colonel was visiting."

"Oh." Janet said noncommittally, as she pondered what to say next. "How did that meeting go?" Hopefully well. He had always been great with Cassie. But a twelve-year-old is very different than a three-year-old. The sound of laughter in Sam's voice when she answered calmed any fears she had.

"He was great, actually. Had her laughing, about five seconds after I introduced the two. They'll get along fine."

"Well," Janet said, with a hint of amusement in her voice, "they are about the same age emotionally."

"Janet!" Sam scolded, but without much sincerity

"You've got to admit though that with the two of them getting along so well, and her no longer a secret from the rest of your team, you have one less reason not to pursue something." Since she had witnessed what was undoubtedly an admission of more than professional feelings, both Sam and the Colonel had ignored and denied everything. The whole incident was now buried deeper than the base was! She didn't want to betray a confidence but she'd had no choice but to fill Daniel in. He'd been very confused as to why suddenly Sam and Jack were treating each other like so…not necessarily coldly, but they certainly weren't acting like friends.

"Janet!" This time her scolding had plenty of sincerity.

"Come on Sam! One of us has to have some sort of a love life, and as I'm probably the only person on base who spends more time at work than you, it's not going to be me!"

"I don't want to talk about this Janet. I hear the guys coming. We'll talk later." And she hung up, despite Janet vehement protests from the other end of the line.

* * *

The guys entered a moment later, as she was moving back to the side of her daughter's bed.

"I just called Janet to give her an update," she explained while digging her sandwich out of the pile of food.

"That reminds me," the Colonel said, with a slight frown. "How has Janet taken care of Paige with Cassie there?"

"Oh, Cassie knows, Sir," she said, somewhat sheepishly.

"And she didn't tell us!"

"As I'm sure you are all aware, Cassie is very good at keeping secrets, Sir," she said with a pointed look.

"Ah yes, there is that."

"That doesn't mean she likes it though. She'll be thrilled when she finds out you guys know now." It would be fun to have everyone over together at the same time for once. This really was going to be a change for the better. No more secrets; at least among them.

"That reminds me. I hope you guys will be sure not to say anything about her around base."

"Of course Sam," Daniel answered, as all three nodded. Teal'c and the Colonel were silent as they had mouths full of food.

Paige started to stir then. Despite their best efforts, the combination of the smell of food and the sound of rustling plastic as they unwrapped their cutlery had woken her. Sam was instantly at her side, sitting on the edge of her bed and taking her left hand.

"Hey Paige," she said softly to drowsily blinking eyes. "Welcome back sleepy head." Paige smiled at that, but still wasn't awake enough to speak. "You have some visitors," she said, and Paige took in the three men to her right.

"Hello again Paige," the Colonel began. "We though we'd join you for lunch."

"Are you hungry baby?" Sam asked, and Paige nodded. "I'll see what we've got for you." She rose from the bed and retrieved the tray that had been brought by earlier. Setting it down on the small portable table she found she rolled it over to the bed. "I'm going to help you sit up some, okay?" At another nod, she pushed the necessary buttons and the bed rose into a more comfortable situation for entertaining guests. Or eating, as the case may be. She unwrapped the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and opened the carton of milk. And upon further investigation there was a small pouch of carrot and celery sticks. Paige started with a quarter of the sandwich, while observing her visitors curiously.

"Hello Paige," Daniel started. "I visited you earlier today but you were still asleep. I'm Daniel. I work with your mom, like Jack." He gave a little wave.

Paige waved back, and said with a sleep filled voice, "Hi Daniel."

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance Paige," said Teal'c, and Paige smiled. "I am Teal'c, and also work with your mother."

"Hi Teal'c." She gave another wave, while munching on a carrot stick.

"And you remember me right? I'm Jack."

She nodded and waved. "Hi Jack."

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked, as she sat back in her chair at the side of the bed.

"Sleepy," Paige answered with a mouth full of carrot.

"That's okay. Do you hurt anywhere?"

"My arm," Paige said, pointing to her right forearm with her left hand.

"Does it hurt a lot sweetheart, or only a little bit?" Sam knew from experience the pain medicine couldn't take all the pain away, but it certainly could make a difference.

"Little bit."

"It might feel like that for a little while but you'll be feeling better soon, I promise."

But Paige wasn't concerned about the ache she felt in her right arm. She was now intent on the tube that was taped into her left hand. "What's this?" she asked as she raised her hand, celery stick and all.

"That's an IV," Sam said hesitantly, knowing how Paige felt about needles. "It is a special way for the doctors to put medicine into your body, so your arm doesn't hurt."

"Yeah Paige," said the Colonel in support. "Don't worry about it. I've had lots of IV's in my life, and they don't hurt at all. Just ask Danny here." He gestured to the archeologist next to him. "He's had even more."

"What for?" Paige asked curiously.

"Well, Danny boy here has a habit of getting into trouble."

"I do not," Daniel protested. "We have a habit of going places where trouble is easily found. I just happened to be good at finding it. There's a difference."

"There is not," the Colonel said. He turned to Paige. "There was this one time when I first met Daniel, that he was trying to pet this…horse. And all of a sudden this horse got spooked and took off. Daniel got his foot caught in the harness, and was pulled with him! He was dragged through the sand on his…bum…all the way to the next town over."

"It was the only town over Jack, so it wasn't too far," Daniel said, as if that made a difference.

Paige didn't care about the specifics though. She thought those two were riotous, and was giggling so much she spit out some of her milk. At a look from Sam they kept the stories slightly tamer until she had finished eating.

And so the afternoon was passed trading stories of childhood antics and injuries. Daniel had apparently had the same knack for trouble as a child that he displayed as an adult.

They were interrupted occasionally by a nurse coming to take readings, and Paige took a nap or two. Before they knew it dinner was being brought in for Paige, and everyone was looking at their watches. It was almost seven.

"Paige, I'm afraid its time for these guys to go. We've taken up their whole day!" Sam said it with a smile though. "I'll walk them out, and I'll be back soon. Then you and I will have something to eat. After that its bedtime." Paige opened her mouth to protest, at the departure of her guests or the ensuing bedtime Sam didn't know. A yawn interrupted her before she could say a word, making Sam's point for her.

The guys gathered up their jackets and each said goodnight to Paige. She insisted on a hug and kiss from each, and Sam swore it was the most adorable thing she's ever seen. Leaving Paige with a hug and kiss herself, Sam walked them to the entrance of the hospital.

* * *

Please review!  



	4. Visitors

A/N: As much as I love fluff, I'm pretty sure this is my last very fluffy chapter. It has taken quite a bit of exposition to introduce Paige into the Stargate Universe, but i'm just about done. There are allusions to trouble ahead in this chapter (very slight, you'll probably only see them in hindsight later). But thank you to those who were expecting explosions, adventure and angst and have stuck with me anyway. That stuff is one its way, now that my muse has finally gotten its act together. Enjoy!

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About an hour and a half later, Jack was sitting in his truck in the hospital's parking lot. He had dropped Daniel and Teal'c off at the base and had intended on heading home to mull over today's events with a beer and a hockey game. The part of his mind that was in charge of the autopilot function that usually brought him home had obviously had different plans.

As long as he was here, he might as well check to make sure that Carter didn't need anything. As a parent himself, he knew she had no intention of heading home for the night.

He walked quietly into Paige's hospital room, mindful that she would probably be asleep by now.   
What he saw was unexpected though, and he couldn't help but smile. Paige was wide awake and sitting up in bed. She was coloring with the paper and crayons the nurses had provided. To her left, Carter had fallen asleep with her head on her folded arms.

"Shh, Mommy's sleeping," Paige said, holding her index finger to her lips and then pointing to her sleeping mother.

"I see that," Jack whispered conspiratorially. "I thought you were supposed to be sleeping too, little lady."

"I'm not sleepy," Paige insisted, but was betrayed by another yawn.

"Sure you're not." Jack walked around to the bed and approached his sleeping 2IC. After the stress of everything that had happened at work lately, today had probably exhausted her. Not just her daughter's injury but having to explain a huge part of her life to three of her best friends while fearing their reactions. He tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, allowing himself the luxury only because he knew she was sleeping deeply. "Let me put your mom to bed, then we'll worry about you." He pulled the curtain back that separated the two hospital beds and carefully lifted Carter from her seat. She mumbled something in her sleep but didn't wake. He placed her gently on the empty bed, leaving the curtain pulled so she could see Paige when she woke. She stretched out a bit and then settled back into slumber.

Jack took her recently vacated seat next to Paige and started gathering up Crayons. Paige was less than pleased at this turn of events. But he distracted her with one of Charlie's favorite bedtime stories as he slipped her drawing away from her and helped her under the covers. A story his son had made him read so many times he practically had it memorized verbatim. Before he had finished the tale she was asleep. Not long after that, so was he.

* * *

Jack woke shortly after six as the nurse was coming in to take some final readings before the day nurse came on duty.

"You look like you've had an uncomfortable night," she whispered to him as he stretched, before turning back to the IV to make adjustments. "You can join your wife on the other bed if you're still tired," she threw over her shoulder. "We've got plenty of beds and won't be needing that one."

He paused in shock, and muttered, "I'm awake," while glancing over at Sam's still sleeping form. Wife? The nurse had said a quick goodbye and left before he had pulled himself together enough to correct her. He left in search of a bathroom and a cup of coffee, figuring that Sam might sleep for a while still.

* * *

Sam woke not long after his departure, and was momentarily confused by her surroundings. Where was she? She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it, and saw her daughter sitting up in bed. Paige had never been one to sleep in, and her napping the previous day hadn't helped.

"Morning Mommy," she said, with a bit of a yawn. Sam echoed the sentiment, and the yawn, but was still confused as to how she had ended up in that bed. The last thing she remembered was tucking Paige in. She glanced at the chair by Paige's bedside and was surprised to see what looked like the Colonel's leather jacket. Huh? She distinctly remembered walking all three of her teammates out of the hospital.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Paige's breakfast arrived. She settled her in with her cereal, then rose from the chair she had retaken.

"I'll be right back Paige, I'm just going to go find the bathroom." Sam headed for the door and almost ran right into her CO as he entered.

"Whoa!" he said, juggling the coffees he had in his hands. "I didn't expect you to be up so early." He handed her one of the coffees, which she accepted gratefully. Then he pulled up a chair next to Paige's bed and sat down.

"Paige woke me up." She decided the bathroom could wait a moment and sat back down. "What are you doing here?"

He glanced about for a moment, not meeting her eyes. "After I dropped the boys off at the base I stopped back here to make sure there wasn't anything you needed. I found you asleep, and Paige wide awake and creating an artistic masterpiece. That chair is not a comfortable place to sleep, I can tell you now from experience, so I moved you to the empty bed." That sounded innocent enough, right?

Now Sam blushed. She had fallen asleep before Paige had, and he had carried her? "Wait. You slept here?"

"Not intentionally." He hadn't actually left either, but that was beside the point. "But since I'm here anyway at least I can help you two get checked out."

"Thanks." She couldn't help but be touched by his thoughtfulness. "I actually need to do some grocery shopping on the way home. I though we were going to be away for at least a day or two so I have no adult food in the fridge. I'm not as big a fan of peanut butter and jelly as Paige is."

"Why don't I take Paige home then and hang out a bit while you pick something up?" There was nothing wrong with helping out a friend. He remembered what grocery shopping was like when Charlie was three.

Sam's first instinct was to say no. But she couldn't help remembering the last time Paige was in the grocery store. It wasn't as bad as when she had been younger, and used to throw things from the cart. Instead she wanted to walk beside the cart like a "big girl" and pick out food herself. Unfortunately the types of foods she thought were healthy and the foods Paige thought were tasty differed greatly. Paige was bound to still be a little off balance from her injury and the pain meds. The last thing she needed was an all out melt-down in the middle of the grocery store. "Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"We'll have fun, won't we Paige?" He turned to the little girl who was nodding fiercely.

"I'll go home with Jack," she said with a mouth full of cheerios.

* * *

"We're home," Jack said with enthusiasm as he pulled up in front of Carter's house. Paige had chattered away happily all the way home. She had even been very patient as he had put her car seat in his truck and then fastened her into the seat's five point restraint. Had it been that complicated when Charlie was little? They sure didn't make these things like they used to.

He lifted Paige out of her seat and picked her up so she wouldn't have to navigate the front steps one-handed. He was fumbling with his keychain looking for the one Carter had given him that went to her house when the door opened.

"Jack? What are you doing here?" Jacob Carter asked in surprise.

"Umm…" Out of all the situations he had been trained for, he had no idea how to handle this one. Did fight or flight even apply? "Just visiting Carter with my…niece." That was plausible, wasn't it?

"She's not home, as I'm sure you know or you wouldn't have been letting yourself in." Jacob continued to stare at Jack suspiciously, and didn't move aside to let them in.

"I just spoke to her on her cell and she said she was getting some groceries and that we should let ourselves in. I have keys to the houses of all my team members." He hoped he didn't sound too defensive as he squeezed past Jacob. He did have keys to their homes. Granted he had never actually been further inside Carter's house than her front hall let alone actually used the key. They tended to gather at his house because it was the closest to base and the largest, and Daniel just had an apartment. For that matter Carter had had an apartment up until a little while ago when her father had gone off-world and had given her his house. Jacob still looked wary as Jack let Paige down and she wandered off into the house, probably to her bedroom. "Don't go far," he called after her, trying to keep up appearances.

"What happened to her arm?" Jacob asked as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed his juice from his late breakfast. He was definitely suspicious of Jack's being here. Anise had explained briefly what had happened during the Tok'ra/Earth treaty signing, and Selmak had helped him fill in the blanks. Admitting that they "cared" was one thing. They weren't acting on it though, were they?

"Paige had a mishap on the playground and broke it yesterday. She's doing fine now though." Sam would have to give details later.

"I didn't know you had any siblings?" Jacob still wasn't buying it. Something was off.

"I don't actually." Think Jack! Think! "She's the daughter of a close friend, and I've sort of become an Uncle to her." Where was Sam anyway?

Just then he heard the door open and heard Sam call for Paige. She came into the kitchen and set down the groceries, and turned around just in time to scoop up the little girl who had come into the kitchen yelling, "Mommy!"

As Sam turned to Jack she gasped, seeing her father in the kitchen as well. "Dad! What are you doing here?"

"I came through the gate last night and had an airman drive me here. The Tok'ra are gathering for a summit of sorts and it will be a few days until the last arrive, so I though I'd come visit. Hammond was already at home and the airman in charge said that you were taking a few days personal leave." He was starting to raise his voice. "Then I get here and you're not home all night. I'm having breakfast when Jack and a little girl show up. A little girl—I might add—that calls you 'mom'? Why is Jack's niece calling you 'mom'?" She tried to interrupt but he was on a roll. "I thought there might have been something between you two when I first saw you two together in D.C. And Anise confirmed it a couple of weeks ago. But what are you doing!?"

"Stop!" Sam yelled, putting her hand up. She turned to the Colonel. "Sir, do you mind taking Paige to her room for a couple of minutes?" He nodded, and took the now confused and slightly upset girl into his arms. As they left down the hall Sam turned to her father. "I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I need you listen to what I have to say before you go jumping to conclusions. The wrong conclusions I might add." She got herself a glass of water and tried to calm her heart. Finding her father standing in her kitchen with the Colonel had been quite a shock, and her father had started yelling before she could recover. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face her father. He was staring into space and she assumed he was having a conversation with Selmak. Hopefully Selmak was calming him down.

"Dad, the Colonel and I aren't in any relationship other than that of CO and 2IC." He looked like he was going to interrupt so she held up her hand. "Paige is my daughter, and he didn't even know I had a daughter until twenty-four hours ago." That certainly got a reaction.

"You have a daughter?" How was this possible? "Adopted, like that little girl Cassandra you told me about?" Although she certainly looked a lot like Sam.

She sighed. This was going to be difficult. "No. She's mine. Paige Elisabeth Carter is going to be four in a little over three months."

Now he just looked hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Up until recently the two of us were far from close. We practically never spoke at all!" She led him over to the couch so they could sit. "She's Jonas Hanson's, my ex-fiancé." The look of recognition in her father's eyes wasn't a happy one. "My dead ex-fiancé," she amended.

"He was the one who—" he started only to be interrupted.

"Yes. He's the one you hated." There was no reason to let her father get into specifics. Jacob had met few of her boyfriends, which was intentional. He had unfortunately met Jonas, which had been unavoidable once the two were engaged, and she had never heard the end of it. "The last thing I needed was to hear from you about how you had been right, I wrong. Or worse, you would have made him take responsibility as the father." She practically cringed at the thought. Jonas would not have taken news of her pregnancy well from her father. "I didn't want him to have anything to do with raising her, so I never told him."

"But—" he interrupted again, only to have her cut him off.

"You can ask questions when I'm done. Let me explain everything first." Then she proceeded to repeat everything she had explained to the guys just the day before. At least she would have plenty of practice when the time came to tell her brother. When she finally finished, she paused in anticipation of her father's questions. He, however, remained silent.

Jacob was trying his best to stay angry with Selmak demanding he just forgive her and go meet his new granddaughter. He probably hadn't made the best of first impressions in the little girl's eyes. It was the guilt at that which pushed him over the edge. With a sign of defeat, he said, "It's going to take some getting used to, but I'll be okay." She couldn't help but smile in relief. "So can I meet this little girl? Paige, you said her name was?"

"Paige Elisabeth."

He smiled at that, his first real smile since Jack had arrived. "Your mother would love that."

Sam couldn't help getting a little teary eyed at that, knowing that she finally had her father's approval. She stood and led her father down the hall to Paige's room.

* * *

Please review!


	5. Regrets

A/N: This is by far the shortest chapter so far, but it in sort of the tail end of the last chapter. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up before the end of the night. And I promise that one will have some j/s in it!

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Neither could help but laugh when they entered. The Colonel was sitting on the floor near the end of Paige's bed holding a scantily clad Barbie doll and wearing a golden princess crown that looked too small for his head. Paige was dressed as a ballerina (as best she could be with the sling) and surrounded by odds and ends from her costume trunk. She appeared to be instructing Jack in what the doll was supposed to wear to the ball. He looked up innocently, if warily, at their entrance.

"Paige?" Sam said, and the little girl came running over and took her mother's hand. "I want you to meet someone." She turned to her father, who had made his way into the room behind her. "This is your grandfather, Jacob." Paige just stared up at him somewhat suspiciously.

"Hello Paige," Jacob said, crouching down. "I'm sorry if I scared you earlier."

"Grandpa Jacob? In the book?" she asked, but addressed the question to her mother.

"Yes," she answered, stooping down as well. "Like in your picture book." At her father's confused look she explained. "She made a picture book earlier this year of her family in pre-school. As her immediate family is a short list, we included photos of you and Mom, and Mark and his family." She turned to Paige, who was now regarding her grandfather much more warmly. "Why don't you show it to him?" Paige paused only momentarily, then took her grandfather's hand and led him down the hall. Sam leaned against the door frame and watched them go, relieved that Paige had taken to him so quickly. She could already hear Paige explaining the book—in great detail.

Meanwhile, the Colonel had divested himself of the doll, and was trying to figure out how to alert her to his presence. He had considered sneaking out while Paige and Jacob were meeting, but the Carters had been thoroughly blocking the doorway. He had briefly considered using the window, but had decided there was no way to do it surreptitiously.

"Carter?" She jumped at the sound of her name, and spun.

"Sir!" She flushed guiltily at having forgotten he was there, then smiled. "I like the tiara sir."

He froze. He'd forgotten about that. Crossing his arms over his chest he feigned self-assuredness. "Didn't you know I'm royalty?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh as she reached up and removed the crown, then fiddled with it. "Thank you for occupying her. That was a conversation she didn't need to be present for."

"Not a problem. She's a good kid." They walked down the hall towards the door, and he grabbed his coat. "I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll see you later." He paused at the door and called goodbye to Paige, who came running for the requisite hug, and then left.

[][][]

Jacob spent the day getting to know his granddaughter and catching up with Sam. She noticed him drifting occasionally, and called him on it after they had put Paige to bed. "What have you been thinking about?"

He took a place at the kitchen table while she put on some coffee, and took his time before answering. "You and Paige, mostly. Your brother and his family too. I've missed a lot these past few years."

She joined him and took one of his hands in hers. "Maybe. But you're here now."

[][][]

Jacob rose from his bed in the guest room and made his way into the hall without turning the lights on. He quietly got himself a glass of water in the kitchen, and then sat down on the couch in the living room.

'You are questioning the wisdom of this next mission, Jacob?' Selmak had kept her thoughts to herself for long enough, and wanted him to discuss this.

'No.' He sighed out loud, and looked out the front window at the night stars. 'I know we need to go. I just worry about whether we will return from this one, and how much I would miss on Earth if things go badly.'

'You have spent your entire life risking yourself for the sake of others. How is this different?'

'Hindsight is making me feel my mortality.' Jacob couldn't help a smile at that. With Selmak's help, he could outlive everyone currently alive on that planet. Including his newest grandchild.

'Would you rather send someone else? Could you?' Selmak knew the answer to this, but wanted to make sure he knew it too.

'No.' He might want to send someone else, but he wouldn't. In this case he couldn't. 'You are the only remaining Tok'ra with any experience fighting Olokun. And I've lived my life. This is borrowed time, which I am going to put to use as best I can. Sometimes though, I wish I had done things differently.'

'Differently? You would not have joined the Tok'ra?'

'No. I would probably still have joined the Tok'ra. I wish I had done things differently, better, with Sam and Mark.'

'I believe there is a human saying you introduced me to, involving wishes and horses—'

'True. But while you have memories of many children and many lives from your previous hosts, I only get to do this once.'

'Then we will have to make sure you have no more regrets.'

Jacob rose and deposited his glass in the kitchen, and then made his way quietly down the hall to his daughter's room. Paige had left the door open after waking with a nightmare and going to her mother. In the dim light of the crescent moon coming through her open curtains he could see Sam and Paige curled up together in slumber. Watching them sleep in peace, he felt the weight of his regrets lighten. As a father, he had been far from perfect. But in the end, he couldn't have loved his family more.


	6. Associates

The sound of the phone normally took at least two rings to rouse Sam in the middle of the night. Not tonight. She pounced on it before the first ring was through. Paige was still having nightmares—a phase Janet assured her would not last forever—and she had just finally gotten her back to sleep at half past two.

"Carter," she said with more than a little defeat in her voice. This had better be important or she was hanging up.

"The General needs you to come in immediately ma'am. Some associates of your father are here."

The Tok'ra. But it didn't sound as if her father was with them. He had stayed two days on Earth before leaving almost a week ago, so she would have been surprised to see him again so soon. But at the same time, her father was the Tok'ra liaison to Earth, so she wondered why someone else had been sent. "I'll be right there."

"And ma'am? The General said he will have a visitor pass waiting for Paige to speed things up. You are to take her to the infirmary." The curiosity in the airman's voice was apparent.

"Thank you." She hung up the phone and threw on a pair of BDU's without even turning on the light. After lacing up her boots she grabbed a small Minnie Mouse backpack off the floor and threw some stuff in it for Paige. A couple of picture books, a doll, and a favorite blanket. Hopefully whatever the Tok'ra needed wouldn't require her to leave world, but she packed Paige a set of clothes and her toothbrush just in case she needed to stay with Janet.

Paige was less than responsive as Sam lifted her out of bed and packed her into the car in her pj's. She slept the whole way to the base, but protested with a small cry at the disturbance as Sam lifted her out of her car seat once there.

"Shh," Sam said, trying to soothe her back to sleep while she gathered her things. It was an uncharacteristically warm night in mid May, and Sam was thankful Paige hadn't even needed a coat and they were able to move quickly. The airman at the final checkpoint handed the visitor pass to her while she signed in, and then stared with unmasked curiosity at Paige. She could tell the curiosity was killing him, and he had just decided to ask her who her visitor was when Carter cut him off.

"Don't ask, don't tell, airman," she said with a look in her eyes that he knew meant business. He closed his mouth and nodded respectfully.

She thankfully encountered no one else as she made her way to the infirmary. There were no patients currently in the infirmary so whoever was on call was most likely sleeping. The only one around was a young nurse, a lieutenant who had had the misfortune to get the night shift. She didn't look surprised at seeing Major Carter enter with a little girl asleep in her arms, and didn't ask any prying questions, so Sam guessed the General had already spoken to her. Paige was easily settled on one of the empty beds. Sam tucked her in, left the backpack on the end of the bed, and gave Paige a kiss on the forehead before leaving. The lieutenant promised to contact her if Paige woke.

[][][]

Sam entered the briefing room to find the General and two Tok'ra waiting with Teal'c, Daniel, and the Colonel. She sat and helped herself to a much needed cup of coffee. She of course knew Anise, but didn't recognize the newcomer.

"As soon as Doctor Frasier joins us, which should be momentarily, we will begin," the General said. He looked tense, and the need for Janet at this impromptu briefing added to the general air of tension in the room. Before she could even begin to speculate though, Janet entered

"Good morning," Janet said with a bit of irony, taking the last seat at the end of the table and setting a file in front of her.

"I'm sure you are all familiar with Anise," the General began in introduction. "Accompanying her this morning is Sinon, also of the Tok'ra."

"Sinon…" Daniel said, waving a finger in the air. "The Greek man who convinced the Trojans to admit the wooden horse into their city."

"I am he," the man spoke, with the usual discord of the Tok'ra. "Today however, I am here because of a much less successful mission.

"Over the past two months, our operatives have been receiving reports of an illness plaguing Jaffa both young and old. This is entirely unheard of, as the symbiotes that sustain them act as an outstanding immune system. From what we've seen the human slaves have remained unaffected."

"In my experience with Teal'c," Janet interjected, "the only thing I have seen that his symbiote has any real difficult healing is gross bodily harm."

"Indeed." Teal'c frowned, slightly. "Older Jaffa often find it more difficult to maintain their health, but few show sign of illness while still young enough to carry a Prim'ta. Disease is an unknown to the young."

"We have yet to discover the exact nature of the illness," Anise said. "The Tok'ra recently came together to pool our knowledge and decide on some course of action."

"My father mentioned something about a summit last week, but he didn't give me details." Sam was suddenly thinking her father should have been a bit more forthcoming. "What was decided?"

"It was decided to send an operative undercover as a minor Goa'uld to enter trade negotiations with one of the Goa'uld whose Jaffa are infected," Sinon explained. "Information has been limited up until this point. The inability of a Goa'uld to fight an illness plaguing his people is a sign of great weakness to both his Jaffa and other Goa'uld. Therefore the presence of infection is concealed.

"The little information we had before this implicated the System Lord Olokun in the development of this illness. It is theorized that he may be attempting to overthrow the rest of the Council by demonstrating their weakness in front of their own people."

"That's incredible," Daniel said with fascination.

"Incredible?" the Colonel asked skeptically.

"Well, certainly not incredible in a good way," Daniel amended. "This is definitely bad. It is incredible however in that it is an entirely new tactic among the Goa'uld. The Goa'uld fight each other for dominance with brute force and posturing. And even then, the ships and technology they use are stolen. They don't develop anything. Modify what they've found, maybe."

"Then how have they been able to create something as complex as a virus, bacteria, or whatever this is, without killing themselves?" Sam added. "Has your operative discovered anything of that nature?" At that question, even Anise looked tense.

"Unfortunately," she began, "we lost contact with that operative twenty-six hours ago."

Cold seeped into Sam's bones as she realized why Hammond was so tense. "It's my father, isn't it." It was more of a statement then a question, and Anise nodded an affirmative.

"Selmak is the only among us who has any experience with Olokun. It has been more than two centuries since he last made so bold a move. There has been no evidence of non-Jaffa infection, so it is most likely your father has been captured, not infected."

"But you're not sure, right?" Sam couldn't help the anger in her voice.

"No, we are not certain," Anise confirmed. "That is why we are here. The human slaves among the Jaffa appear immune. Our numbers are too few to risk another Tok'ra if it is dangerous to us. We believe we know where he is, but cannot attempt a rescue ourselves. SG-1, aside from Teal'c, should be immune, and therefore able to extract your father much more safely."

"Do you even know where to begin looking for him?" the Colonel asked, hoping they were going to be useful as more than just the bearers of bad news.

"His last message was relayed from a mothership of the Goa'uld Olorun."

"I thought it was Olokun?" Jack interrupted.

"Olorun is the greatest enemy of Olokun," Sinon explained. "The two have always competed for a place among the System Lords. While Olokun is a system lord at present, Olorun is not. His armies are still rebuilding since their last battle. It was determined that because of the animosity between them, if Olokun was behind this Olorun would be the worst hit."

"So you expect us to be able to rescue him from a Goa'uld mothership?" Jack asked skeptically.

"The mothership was lightly manned because of illness plaguing the Jaffa," Anise explained. "The mothership is orbit around a planet with a stargate, but the ownership of the planet is in dispute and the gate is therefore very heavily guarded. We have a Tel'tak with cloaking technology that should allow you to approach the mothership without detection.

"We have been monitoring transmissions from the ship to maintain contact with Selmak, and there have been no ring transports or glider launches in the time he has been out of contact. It is likely he is still aboard."

"Colonel," the General said, drawing everyone's attention back to his end of the table. "I want you to take SG-1, minus Teal'c, and Doctor Frasier to that mothership." Sam felt a small relief at that. One of these days her father was going to get into trouble and she wasn't going to be able to help him. "Do your best to find and help Jacob. But even more importantly is—take some samples and discover as much as you can about this sickness. The last thing we need is for Olokun to conquer all of the System Lords without even firing a shot. You'll leave as soon as possible. Dismissed."

* * *

I hope you liked it! More is on the way. My posts will probably be somewhat shorter and a little further apart now that my posting has caught up with my writing. And i really do promise there will be J/S in here somewhere. I chose Romance as a genre for a reason, and some scattered subtle UST was not it.   
Hopefully Olorun and Olokun will not confuse you too much. Daniel will explain them better in the next chapter.  
And i'm taking a bit of a voter poll on whether Jacob/Selmak should live or die. I get the final say, but you guys can definitely sway my decision. Tell me what you want!  
There is good stuff to come. Please review, as alway!  



	7. Distractions

A/N: This is not betaed, so any mistakes are mine. And its the wee hours of the morning, so I can't guarantee it's coherent. Enjoy! I should have more for you soon, and its going to get exciting. I still have a few surprises up my sleeve! And thanks to all who gave their opinion on Jacob's fate. 

* * *

Sam was fine through waking up Paige, and explaining that she and Cassie were going to be spending the next couple of days with Helen. Fine through helping hurriedly but thoroughly pack two duffels full of medical test paraphernalia. Fine through gating to Vorash, powering up the Tel'tak, and plotting a course. Then suddenly she had a twelve hour journey ahead of her and absolutely nothing to do. She had rather quickly run out of distractions. Janet was now hovering around her, and Sam could tell she was itching to confront Sam about her handling of this situation. Sam was fine, and didn't want to discuss it. Just a tad desperate, she sought out Daniel.

He was in the cargo bay with the Colonel and Teal'c. Teal'c was using the time to rest in a light state of Kelnoreem. The Colonel was playing with a blue yo-yo while lounging in boredom on some storage crates. Daniel was absorbed in his reading. Sitting against the left wall he was surrounded by books, most likely researching the mythological background of their newest foes. If she knew Daniel, and she did, he would be more than willing to distract her with a barrage of information.

"What can you tell us about these Goa'uld?" she asked with more enthusiasm than she actually felt, then took a seat on a nearby crate. Sensing the importance of the information Daniel was about to share, the others shifted their attention to Daniel.

"Olokun and Olorun are based in the cosmogony of the Yoruba people of Africa, specifically of Benin, Togo and Northwestern Nigeria." At their blank looks he further explained. "The Yoruba are a group of about fifteen million linked mainly by language, but also religion and geography. Olokun and Olorun are brothers. Olorun, also referred to as Olodumare—'Almighty'—is the god of the sky, and therefore ruler of everything the sky covers. Olokun is the god of the sea.

The two brothers have a history of competition. At one point, Olokun challenged Olorun's supremacy as the sky god. The story goes that the people would choose who was supreme based on who was best dressed."

"You have got to be kidding me!" the Colonel explained, although not entirely surprised by the vanity of the Goa'uld.

"Nope," Daniel said, glancing through the book in his hands. "Neither chose to get their hands dirty in actual battle unless absolutely necessary. In fact, Olorun didn't even participate in the contest himself. He sent a messenger—supposedly a chameleon—to represent himself. The chameleon matched whatever Olokun wore, and Olokun eventually conceded the superiority of his brother."

"But isn't Olokun the one with more power right now?" Janet asked, not certain she knew who was who yet.

"Yes," Daniel confirmed. "Olokun is a system lord at present. Despite this, he still holds a bit of a grudge. According to the intel Sinon and Anise gave us, Olorun was the first Goa'uld whose Jaffa were targeted by the 'virus'—for lack of a better term—but not the only. Almost all of the system lords have been affected.

The Colonel broke in here. "If he succeeds in devastating their Jaffa population, he has removed most of their power base. If he allows most to get sick and some to die, and then spreads a cure, he succeeds in becoming even more powerful. What better way to gain loyalty than to prove the weakness of their own 'god', and then prove his own strength? This 'Koon' guy could suddenly possess the allegiance of the council's entire power base, all by himself. And as much as I wouldn't miss the rest of the system lords, I don't want any one Goa'uld to have that much power."

"It's a risky situation for us," Sam mused, "but could benefit us incredibly if we can find a cure. The inability of the system lords to cure their own Jaffa must already be creating doubt in the face of their supposed omniscience. If we were to present a cure, it could sway those who are uncertain where their loyalty lies."

"These may be convinced to rebel against their 'gods,'" Teal'c appended, and she nodded.

"If everyone is certain that Olokun is behind this, why haven't the other system lords taken action against him?" Janet asked.

"The System Lords are a council of the most powerful and well matched of the Goa'uld," Teal'c explained as the most knowledgeable of Goa'uld politics. "It exists solely because these Goa'uld do not want to risk devastating their resources in battle against each other. It is an often unspoken but important compromise they would not risk disrupting unless faced with no other choice."

"If they hesitated," the Colonel conjectured, "their forces could have been incapacitated or at least thrown into barely controlled chaos before they could decide to act."

"If that's the case, then we're on our own," Sam said, betraying her current pessimism.

"So as usual, no pressure," the Colonel quipped ironically. No one smiled.

[][][]

Four hours later Teal'c was at the helm—just in case, as the ship was on autopilot at this point—and everyone else was sleeping in the cargo hold. Attempting to sleep anyway. Sam had watched Daniel and Janet drop off almost immediately, and the Colonel following soon after. She had yet to join them, and was getting ready to give up. Rolling over again with a quiet sigh in a feeble attempt to get comfortable on the cold, rigid floor she found herself looking straight into an open pair of brown eyes.

"Sir!" she gasped in surprise. "I didn't mean to wake you." She was apologetic for disturbing his sleep, but more embarrassed at being caught out.

"Trouble sleeping?" he asked with concern. Despite her best efforts the strain of her worry for her father had been visible all evening, and he had paid close attention to her actions.

She nodded, suddenly fighting tears. "I just keep remembering him in that cell on Netu," she confessed. "I thought I'd lost him. It seems like just yesterday we got him back from there, and here he is—in trouble again. Paige is just getting to know him, and I don't want to have to explain to her that her grandfather is gone."

He knew the truth behind that statement. She didn't want to have to explain to herself that Jacob was gone. "Jacob just has the same knack for trouble that you do," he said with a comforting smile. "And he's made it this far, so it seems he has the same streak of impossible luck. We'll find him."

She returned a teary smile. "I hope so."

"Should the worst happen though," he said, knowing it was a distinct possibility, "we're all here for you. I'm here for you."

A tear escaped from her eye at this, and began to run into her hair. She reached up to wipe it away but he caught her hand in his, and used his other to wipe it away himself. For just a moment she saw desire flash through his eyes. Desire to hold her, and help her through this. He settled for holding her hand, and they both finally drifted into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

So I finally got a teeny bit ot ship in there. I promise there is much more to come. Please review!  



	8. Captures

A/N: Here you are, its my longest chapter to date. Almost 2700 words! I hope it was worth the wait, and I definitely want to hear your response to this chapters events and revelations. It starts out somewhat sedate, but gets very exciting!  
And it is unbetaed, so I apologize for any misakes. 

* * *

Sam was the first to wake, and a glance at her watch told her they should be arriving within the next two hours. As her sleep fuzzed brain cleared a bit, she gained more perspective on her surroundings. Her left hand was still clasped tightly in the Colonel's right, both resting on the cold floor between them. One of them had moved closer to the other in sleep—she couldn't be certain who—and they were now close enough for their foreheads to almost touch.

She observed him in his sleep, taking note of the changes it wrought. He wasn't completely at peace, and she could see the tension in his forehead as he frowned in his sleep. But it smoothed some of the laugh-lines around his eyes, and made him look younger—somewhat more carefree. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she reached out with her right hand to touch him. She lightly traced the scar on his left eyebrow with her fingertips, down the side of his face to his chin. Only one tiny scar marred his face, but she knew from brief glances in the locker room that his body held dozens more. None of them were so small as this. With an ironic smile, she considered that very characteristic of him. He hid his pain, and only shared glimpses with her.

But he allowed her to share hers, sometimes. Not in late night heart-to-hearts or anything, but he read her well. She could see his support and confidence in her in his eyes, even as she tried her best to suppress her worry over her father. He shared it freely. Anything else though, and he was a mystery.

In a moment of weakness she leaned forward a pressed a feather-light kiss to his forehead. Pulling back she whispered 'thank you,' so quietly she could barely hear it herself. She had needed a hand to hold. But now she extricated her hand from his as gently as possible. It was time to get to work.

[][][]

Jack had woken not long after Sam, stirred by the intensity of her gaze upon him. He felt her fingertips trace his face as is own heart quickened at her actions. The light kiss on his forehead startled him, but he didn't let it show. If he moved, this would be one more thing they would have to leave in the room. They had reached an unspoken agreement before falling asleep—a peace treaty of sorts—and he didn't want to upset it. So he continued to feign sleep until a minute or two after she left before sitting up to get his bearings.

[][][]

Sam found Teal'c at the helm. It had been decided after the initial briefing that Teal'c would have to be brought along, despite the risk of infection. He was the only one who would pilot the Tel'tak other than Sam—who had protested respectfully (if vehemently) at even the notion of spending the mission waiting on the cargo ship—and he could do it with greater precision if they ran into trouble. The plan was that the Colonel, Carter, Daniel and Janet would ring over to the Ha'tak. Teal'c would have to briefly lower the ship's cloak while the transport took place, but would immediately raise it once the transport was complete. Then he would quickly move the ship to another position in the general vicinity of the Ha'tak, and await contact from the rest of the team.

Any supplies Teal'c would need were moved to the front of the ship, and the cargo bay/ring transport area would be sealed off in case his returning team members brought the contagion back with them. Environmental suits were too cumbersome and limiting to wear into a possibly hostile situation, so only light masks, gloves, and clear goggles would be worn on board. The suits had been packed though and would be worn through the gate back to the SGC to prevent infection of the base until they could be properly decontaminated in the infirmary and isolation labs. It wasn't a process Sam was looking forward to, if only because it meant she was fighting an enemy she couldn't see.

Teal'c's inquired as to how she had rested, breaking her from her thoughts as she realized she hadn't said a word since taking the seat next to him.

"Fine," she answered as nonchalantly as possible. He gave a slight nod, which she hoped meant he had bought it.

Before either could say anything more, the Colonel walked in and handed her an MRE.

"Good morning Sir," she said with a hint of irony. According to Earth time it was actually late evening, but their day was just beginning.

"If you say so," he said with a bit of a groan as he stretched. "We need to do something about that floor if we're going to be spending future missions in a Tel'tak. I've slept on softer rocks."

She smiled, more at his attempt to start the day on a light note than his actual humor. Any fears she had for her father at this moment were being stuffed deep inside a box inside her, and locked away. Hopefully it would stay there, and she could hide it behind the soldier in her.

The Colonel offered another MRE to Teal'c, but he declined, saying he had eaten while they slept. Carter and the Colonel avoided each other's eyes at that, knowing what Teal'c must have seen as he had retrieved his breakfast from the cargo bay. But both knew Teal'c would be discrete and not acknowledge it.

Daniel and Janet entered a moment later, most likely woken by the Colonel. Each carried an MRE of their own, and settled against the descent pods at the far wall for breakfast. Sam joined them, giving her seat to the Colonel. There was little conversation at this point. Their objectives had been discussed at length already. And with the limited intel on exactly what they were going to find, the mission was going to be mostly improvisation. So each was lost in thought as they munched on a breakfast of lukewarm spaghetti, meatloaf, or macaroni and cheese. A breakfast of champions.

[][][]

Breakfast ended all too quickly as they got closer and closer to the Ha'tak. Trash was put away, restroom breaks taken, and then it was time to gear up. While the rest snapped on vests, masks and gloves, Teal'c moved food, water and other supplies for himself to the front of the ship. A short farewell was said, and 'good luck's' were exchanged before he sealed his friend in the cargo bay. He shunted the ventilation system so that the cargo bay was independent of the rest of the ship, and radioed to the Colonel.

"The Ha'tak will be in range in two minutes, O'Neill."

"Acknowledged. Transport us over when I give the signal." They gathered together on the ring transport. Each donned their goggles, readied their firearm of choice, and waited. Janet was positioned in the center, with the others surrounding her protectively. She was the only one wearing a backpack, which carried test tubes and other sampling equipment. Any analysis would wait until they were back on the Tel'tak or had a better idea of how many Jaffa were awaiting them on the Ha'tak.

"We are within range," Teal'c radioed as the timer on Sam's watch hit zero. It was time to go.

"Ring us over, Teal'c," the Colonel said, before turning the rest of the team. "Look alive, kids," he warned. "This just might be exciting," he finished before the rings engulfed them.

[][][]

The ring room on the Ha'tak was suspiciously empty. "We made it safe and sound," the Colonel said to Teal'c, using a modified communication device the Tok'ra had assured them the Goa'uld would not be able to detect. He prayed they were right, or the welcoming committee could be arriving momentarily.

"Let's minimize radio contact," the Colonel continued before Teal'c could respond. "We'll be in touch if we find anything remarkable."

"Acknowledged," Teal'c responded. "I shall endeavor to remain within range."

"Copy that." The Colonel had finished checking out the room, and they were now gathered at the door. The Colonel and Carter on one side, Daniel and Janet on the other, all with guns locked and loaded. Sam hit the control, and the door sprung open to reveal an empty hallway. On the Colonel signal they leap-frogged their way down the hallway until they found a reasonably technical looking room. They needed to find a computer terminal to get their bearings.

Still maintaining relative silence, the others guarded Sam as she and Daniel examined the terminal. Sam knew a lot about Goa'uld technology, but her language skills were somewhat lacking. Occasionally she would point to a word on the screen, and Daniel would whisper its meaning to her. Finding what she needed, she shut the terminal down and turned to the Colonel.

"I've located the holding cells, which is where my father most likely is if he ran into trouble, and have a good idea of our current position relative to the rest of the ship."

"Do we have any idea what kind of resistance we're going to find as we make our way there?"

"No, Sir," she answered with tension in her voice. "The ships biosensors are offline. I can't get an idea of how many are onboard, or where."

"Why would they be offline? Are there signs of battle?"

"No, Sir. Some parts of the ship are inactive, and power had been diverted to other systems, but none of the critical systems that would have been targeted in battle have been harmed." She hesitated. "There are several possibilities, Sir. They could have engaged in battle and have used power from secondary systems and currently unused portions of the ship to aid in repairs. Or, this could be a way of isolating the Jaffa themselves from information regarding the contagion and how far it has spread. Or…" she met his eyes.

"Or," he finished for her, "they know we're coming, have guessed where we're going, and don't want us to know we're about to be ambushed."

"Yes, Sir." Glances were exchanged at the four absorbed this knowledge and considered their knowledge.

"Well," O'Neill said casually. "We have no way of determining which of those possibilities is fact, and we came too far to turn around and go home just because we don't know what we're facing. Let's make our way to the holding cells as quietly and carefully as we can. Start with zats so we can leave a clean trail, just in case." He turned to Sam. "Lead the way, Major."

[][][]

The first portion of their journey, down two levels and a third of the way across the ship, passed without incident. The halls were empty, which they had been told to expect because the Ha'tak was lightly manned, but it was still very disconcerting. So far this had been too easy, and they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The ambush, when it came, was overwhelming. Six Jaffa came from behind, firing with both zats and staff weapons. The team rounded a corner searching for cover, returning fire as best they could. Four to six were far from unbeatable odds for SG-1, even with Janet in place of Teal'c. Her firearms training was current, as she occasionally did treat patients in combat situations, and what she lacked in experience she made up with spirit.

It was the additional eight Jaffa that SG-1 practically ran into that took them down. If the Jaffa had wanted to kill them, they would have. Fortunately, they had orders to capture the intruders alive, if somewhat harmed. As they dodged the Jaffa in front of them, the Jaffa behind them caught up. Janet took a staff blast to the lower leg which took her down instantly, and a single shot from a zat took Daniel down nearly on top of her as he bent to help her up. Carter and O'Neill knew when they were beat, and grudgingly lowered their weapons at staff-point.

[][][]

They were led quickly disarmed, stripped of their protective equipment and vests, and led silently to a holding cell. The Colonel, couldn't help remarking at the irony of that.

"Why thank you for showing us the way," he said sarcastically, turning to the Jaffa behind him as they marched. "We couldn't have found it without you!"

The Jaffa did not respond, and continued to march them through the corridors. A Jaffa from the group in front of them carried the still unconscious Daniel, and Sam had her arm around the Doc, supporting her as best she could. She could tell Janet as in a lot of pain though, and wished they Jaffa had left them so much as a med kit.

Upon reaching the cell, the Jaffa pushed them in harshly and deposited Daniel in an indelicate heap on the floor. Sam eased Janet to the floor with her back against the wall, then faced the Jaffa who remained in the doorway.

"Take this time to rest," he said with a sneer. "Our lord Olorun will call for you soon, and you will need your strength." He left them on that optimistic note.

The Colonel turned to Sam, and raised his hands in defeat. "How come no one informed us a Goa'uld would be on board this ship?"

"Obviously the Tok'ra report was incomplete," she agreed, scanning the cell for a way out. It was somewhat more dimly lit than usual, in accordance with the shunting of power throughout the ship. Before the Colonel could continue with his rant—as valid as it might have been—her eyes fell on a form in the corner and she gasped.

"Dad!" she said, half under her breath, as she ran to his side. There were no obvious signs of injury, but she checked his unconscious form over for broken bones. She heard Daniel moaning as he came round with a bit of a headache from hitting the floor, but paid him no attention. There were no broken bones, and her father didn't respond to any particularly painful areas, but he did seem to be slowly coming around. He shifted his head back and forth without a sound, and blinked a bit.

Smoothing her hand over his forehead, which to her concern she found to be much warmer than was normal, she spoke to him. "Dad," she whispered. "I need you to wake up for me."

Her voice seemed to add the necessary encouragement he needed, because he finally seemed to gain his bearings. "Sam?" he said shaking his head. "You shouldn't be here," he protested, his voice rising.

"We're here to get you out Dad," she said, trying to keep him calm.

Too weak to sit up, but much more alert now, Jacob explained further. "You'll get sick, Sam, you can't be here."

"But the Tok'ra said it didn't affect humans?" The confusion in her voice was evident, and she prayed he didn't know what he was saying. It had to be the fever talking.

"No, no," he shook his head, and caught the eye of the Colonel who was now standing behind her crouched form. "You have to get her out of here Jack," he said. "She'll get sick."

"Why just her, Jacob," Jack asked, voicing the question both Daniel and Janet, who were now listening intently, shared.

"It's not a virus that's making them sick," Jacob explained, his eyes somewhat unfocused but his words strong. "Olokun intercepted a Tollan ship, and modified the medical technology he found on board."

"How?" Sam asked, petitioning him to explain further.

"He's using modified nanites. They use the naquadah in the Jaffa and his symbiote to maintain themselves, and work slowly to shut down the internal organs. Most humans are immune because they don't have any naquadah in their blood. But you're different, Sam, because of Jolinar. If you're in here, you're already infected."

* * *

There you go! I don't know about you, cliff-hangers drive me crazy, so hopefully i'll have the next chapter up soon. And i would like to point out that not one person caught the fact that Teal'c was on the Tel'tak, even though Hammon had said he wasn't going! That was a the result of writing in the wee hours of the morning for me, and i'm surprised i caught it. But it works out, because now he'll be able to provide backup, etc.   
SG1 will be meeting Olorun in the next chapter, and they will find out exactly what his plans are for them (he has plans, trust me).   
[][][]Your reviews help me write faster, so please tell me what you think![][][]


	9. Propositions

A/N: Here's the next part! Enjoy!

* * *

Jacob's declaration was met momentarily by silence, broken only by his own labored breathing.

"Don't worry about me," Sam told her father, taking his head into her lap. "How are you doing?"

"I'm sick," he confessed.

"But I thought it hadn't affected any of the Goa'uld, just their Jaffa?" Daniel asked. There are many differences between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld, but biology isn't one of them. If it didn't affect one, it wouldn't affect the other, right?

"It doesn't affect the Goa'uld," Jacob confirmed, not clearing up anything. "Not yet anyway."

"Dad, that doesn't seem possible." She shook her head, trying to understand how these nanites worked.

"They're programmed," he said in his defense. "They won't affect any Goa'uld until Olokun wants them to. The Goa'uld share enough of their genetic memory—which is different from that of the Tok'ra—for the nanites to tell the difference by DNA."

"So the nanites are programmed not to affect the Goa'uld, but anyone else with naquadah in their blood is fair game." Sam feared this was the case, because it meant it would only be a matter of time before she started showing symptoms. "I just need to know how long it's been since you were infected dad, then I want you to rest."

"Probably four days," he said. "But I didn't start showing symptoms until about forty-eight hours later. That's when we were caught. Selmak is fighting it, but can only do so much. It's only a matter of time."

"Don't give up yet, Jacob," the Colonel warned. "We've been in worse situations. You too in fact. Which reminds me, we've got to stop meeting like this."

"Funny, Jack," Jacob responded, with a hint of a smile. Jack knew if Jacob was still humoring him that he wasn't at death's door yet.

"We'll figure something out, Dad." She didn't meet his eyes as she said it though, instead looking to the Colonel. He nodded. They would get out of this.

[][][]

While the Colonel paced the cell like a caged tiger, and Carter comforted her father, Daniel tried to help Janet get comfortable. They had all been stripped of their vests and weapons, and Janet of her pack, so all he had to work with was the clothing on his person. Taking off his jacket he ripped the sleeves from his black t-shirt to use as bandages.

Janet pushed herself into a sitting position so she could help. She had treated similar wounds countless times, but never on herself, and never with so few supplies. Gritting her teeth she peeled back her left pant leg and rolled it over her knee. The wound wasn't pretty. The heat from the blast had melted some of the fabric of her pant leg into the skin, and cauterized the more directly hit area. The rest was still bleeding rather heavily though, and Daniel wrapped the makeshift bandages tightly around this area per the Doc's instructions.

"Can you hurry up!" Janet practically hissed through her clenched teeth while Daniel wrapped and tightened.

"Almost done," he promised. "Now you will undoubtedly be able to empathize with your patients." He couldn't help a hint of a smile, but she wasn't amused.

"I imagine it feels different when there are drugs involved," she snapped as he finished, and nodded his head in agreement. It was far from a sterile procedure and she knew infection was almost guaranteed, but it was the best they could do.

Daniel had just rolled the pant leg back down over the 'bandages' and taken a seat next to Janet when the Jaffa guards returned.

The doors opened to show Olorun's first prime flanked by four guards. The prime held a staff weapon, and the other four were each poised with a zat. All wore only light armor and were helmetless, with unfamiliar symbols tattooed on their foreheads. The symbol was reminiscent of a bird and Daniel hypothesized it was one of Olorun's most likely methods of representing his position as the sky-god pictorially. Not to mention a much more threatening symbol than, say, a cloud.

While Daniel was contemplating art the Colonel's eyes turned to assess them. He looked for weaknesses or a chance to escape. There was nothing obvious. But the guard on the far left had a thin sheen of sweat on his face, and his cheeks were flushed. He was attempting to look as fierce as the others but was being betrayed by unmistakable physical signs of illness.

"We have come for Major Carter," the prime sneered, turning his gaze to where she sat cradling her father. She was careful and hid any reaction she might have to his statement.

"Major Carter?" the Colonel questioned nonchalantly, sauntering toward the front of the cell. He shook his head. "Never met him. You must have the wrong people."

"There is no mistake." The prime looked quite confident about this. "SG-1"—he did his best to look disgusted while he said it—"is well known among the system lords, my lord Olorun included." He walked into the cell towards her while the other Jaffa trained their zats on her teammates to prevent anyone from trying to take advantage of his more vulnerable position. Certain that he was in no danger, he walked right up to her.

Unfortunately, the prime was right. With four zats trained on them, and two injured (Jacob wasn't exactly injured but wouldn't be going anywhere under his own power for a while), he and Daniel didn't stand much of a chance. Even if Daniel's head had stopped spinning from his previous zat blast, they would have been down before either could make it halfway to the door.

So Jack bit his tongue and clenched his fists to keep from making a move when Olorun's first prime tipped Carter's chin up to look at her fully. She glared up at him defiantly as he looked her over.

"Samantha, I believe it is?" He didn't expect a response and continued. "You are known not only for your unusual technical expertise, especially for a woman…but also for your beauty. Perhaps when my lord is done with you, he will allow me to play as well." His insinuation was clear, and she spit in his face for it. The backhand across her face was not a surprise, but it hurt anyway. He wiped the blood from her lower lip and then licked it from his own thumb before meeting her eyes again. "If there is anything recognizable left to play with when my god is done." With that he turned and headed back to the front of the cell. Then he paused, and turned. She still sat with her father's head in her lap, glaring at him with daggers in her eyes from the back of the cell.

"Coming?" She knew he wanted action, not an answer, and slipped out from underneath her father. The Colonel gave her his jacket, which she rolled up and slipped under her father's head. Walking fearlessly up to the Jaffa she met the Colonel's eyes and silently told him not to fight this. At this point there was nothing he could do. Then she met the prime's eyes defiantly, and stifled the urge to shiver. There was no soul in those eyes.

[][][]

The dimly lit corridors blurred together after a while as Sam was marched towards what she could only assume would be Olorun's 'throne room.' She had tried to keep track of the route in case she somehow escaped to go back for her friends, but got lost after what had to have been the sixth left turn. There was nothing distinctive about any of the hallways and it felt like they were going in circles. The hallways were barren, and only one or two Jaffa were passed during the entire journey.

Finally they came to a door. The prime shielded the keypad with his body as he punched in the combination, and then stepped back as it opened before leading the group in.

The throne room was larger than she had expected, but as gold encrusted as any Goa'uld chamber. The left wall was open to space, with only a force-field of some sort between them and an incredible view of the planet below.

The Jaffa pushed her to her knees in front of where Olorun sat on the throne that was the centerpiece of the room. He was darkly colored and shirtless, wearing baggy pants that featured a tropical pattern in bright blues, greens and yellows. His head was shaved clean and covered with a thin beaded headdress. It reminded Sam a bit of a yarmulke, but only it the placement and shape of its centerpiece. The strands of brightly colored beads that fell from its edge to his shoulders quietly clinked together as he stood and approached her.

At a nod two of the Jaffa and the prime stepped back. The two remaining guards stayed with her, with their hands on her shoulders so she remained kneeling 'respectfully' before their god.

"I see she gave you trouble, Rotak," Olorun remarked to his first prime at the sight of her bloody lip.

"She has spirit, lord, and was less than willing to come to you."

"It does not matter." Olorun paused in front of her. "Your coming to me is a gift I tend to make use of. I would like to make a deal with you, Major Carter," Olorun began.

Sam practically snorted. "What kind of deal do you think I would make with a Goa'uld?" she spat at him.

"The kind you cannot refuse," he answered without pause. "I believe you are aware of the illness engineered by my brother, Olokun, that is plaguing my people." As this was not a conversation he didn't wait for an answer. "I am aware that it is an illness of technological making, not of biological. I want you to find the cure."

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that?" she questioned skeptically.

"I will make whatever resources I have available to you in one of the cargo bays. You will work until you find a cure, or die."

"Why would I do this for you?" So far, this wasn't sounding like much of a deal.

"If you do not," he threatened, "your friends and father will die slow, painful deaths in front of your eyes."

"A small price to pay for the guaranteed death of the Goa'uld and their Jaffa," she bluffed. He didn't buy it.

"If you succeed, I will allow you all to go free." Olorun dangled this in front of her for a moment before summarizing. "You cannot refuse. If you do, your father will be the first to die."

"How do I know you will keep your end of the bargain?" She asked the question already knowing the answer, but wanting to stall the decision a moment more.

"You cannot. But if you choose not to attempt a cure, death is a guarantee. So really, there is no choice." He paused, but only momentarily. "Will you do it?"

"Yes." What else could she say?

* * *

I hope you liked it and please review. And here's a question to think about for next time: assuming Olorun has better things to do than but their cell and listen to SG-1 as they talk, how does he know Selmak's host is Sam's father? Remember its early fourth season, and Jacob hasn't been a Tok'ra for very long. Hmmm. Something fishy here? Tell me what you think!  



	10. Mysteries

A/N: I finally updated! Sorry about the huge delay. But you should be happy to know that my younger sister and I enjoyed a lovely eight days in Los Angeles visiting out Uncle and playing tourists. And this chapter took an incredible amount of research!  
  
Now here's some information you're probably going to need to understand this chapter. First, is luck and concentration. I did my best to explain the mechanics of the nanite contagion, but it is absolutely filled with biological technobabble. If you get lost and confused, just e-mail me with your questions and I'll do my best to clear things up. If a whole lot of people get confused, I'll rewrite this chapter.  
  
Since we're dealing with nanotechnology, I thought everyone should be aware of the scale we're working in. A micron (also called micrometer) is one millionth of a meter (1x10 -6). To give you an idea of how small this is, a human hair is 80-100 micrometers in diameter, and viruses are viruses are about 0.02-0.25 micrometers in size. Now the finished machines in nanotechnology may be measured in microns, but their component pieces can potentially be measurable in nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (1x10 -9). I don't know of anything even close to that size, so I can't give you a reference.  
  
And an oblate sphere is a sort of squished ball. It's what you get when you spin an oval on its longest axix.  
  
Also, everything I say about the work of Dr. Robert Freitas, Jr. in this article is true. He is currently a researcher for Zyvex Corp of Texas, and published an article in a technical journal about detailing his designs for nano-cells in the late nineties. Very fascinating stuff.  
  
Enough explaining though. On with the story! 

* * *

If Sam was to have any chance of finding a way to fight Olokun's virus she would have to understand how it worked first. The scans the Goa'uld had of the nanites showed an incredibly complex machine whose original purpose was beyond her. Supposedly the Tollans used these nanites medicinally but none of the information the Goa'uld computer terminal provided described how.

Her own background in nanotechnology was scattered, and focused more on the design of advanced circuits and computer chips than medical devices. She had however read a journal article earlier that year on the medical nanotechnology work of Dr. Robert Freitas. Although modern technology did not have the ability to build any of his nano-cells, his designs were cutting edge and potentially revolutionary in the field of medicine. He had designed a mechanical red blood cell that was 236 times more effective than natural red blood cells when it came to delivering oxygen to tissue and removing waste gasses. The difference was that his "respirocyte" could withstand 1000 times of the earth's atmospheric pressure, allowing it to compress and transport quantities of gas that would blow a normal red cell apart. Dr. Freitas' mechanical platelets could allegedly stop bleeding in less than a second making them ten-thousand times more effective than natural platelets, and his artificial white blood cells would clear up in between 10 and 120 minutes a body-wide infection that would take antibiotics weeks.

All three of these human-designed cells were fueled by simple "glucose engines," taking advantage of the same energy providing nutrients as the body's own cells. Internal sensors would regulate activities and programming would be controlled by externally applied acoustic signals—a.k.a radio signals of specific frequency.

If Earth's researchers were already imagining such complex tiny machines, what would she be up against in trying to understand something similar created by the Tollan?

The rest of the team had just finished choking down the horrid oatmeal-like concoction the Goa'uld were trying to disguise as food when a group of Jaffa guards returned. Sam had been gone for almost three hours at that point so they each hoped she was being returned. The guards appeared empty handed though, so it could only be assumed they were returning for dishes. The group piled the bowls near the door and backed themselves to the wall in the most defensible positions they could manage.

A crouched and dirty human slave entered quickly and swiped up the bowls, returning through the door without ever acknowledging the prisoners or their Jaffa guards. The Jaffa paid him no more attention than he had them, and entered the room with their zats raised.

"Is there something we can do for you?" the Colonel asked with mock courtesy.

"The woman will come with us," the largest of the three Jaffa declared, to Janet's dismay.

"I'm afraid there isn't much I can help you with," she said from her place against the far wall. The fear she couldn't help but feel was well hidden from the Jaffa that towered over her. Jack and Daniel's fingers itched to do something, anything, to prevent another from being taken as Carter had. But the two Jaffa remaining just inside the doorway had them covered with zats, and didn't look at all hesitant to use them. And Jacob had remained mostly unconscious, preserving his energy to help Selmak fight the nanites damage. With half the group incapacitated and Sam's whereabouts still unknown, there was nothing Jack or Daniel could do until the Jaffa slipped up in their attentiveness.

With a zat trained on her by the imposing Jaffa above her Janet ran through their options as well. Before she could come to any conclusions the Jaffa grabbed her by the arm and pulled her forcefully to her feet. While she was anything but large, his ability to lift her so easily one-handed still surprised her in the split second before her thoughts were forced elsewhere by the pain in her leg. Regrettably, she mused, staff blast wounds were just as painful as they looked. Only the adrenaline flooding her system in preparation for what she might have to face in the coming moments kept her on her feet as she was dragged from the cell and through the halls.

Adrenaline only lasts so long, so Janet was depending heavily on the strength of the Jaffa who led her with his hand painfully clutching her arm by the time they reached their destination. When the door they paused outside opened and she was released and thrust inside, her landing left something to be desired. She took a moment to gather her wits about her as she lay sprawled on the floor before pulling herself up.

The arms that assisted her in sitting up—she had no intention of standing—startled a gasp out of her, followed by a relieved sigh and embrace.

"I'm sorry Janet," Sam exclaimed quietly as she embraced her friend, wary of the two guards still watching from the doorway. "But I need your help with this. It may be a contagion of technical origin, but I need to understand the implications of its biological effects before I can begin to understand how it works."

"Where have you been?" Janet asked impatiently, now recovered from the shock and relief of finding Sam looking relatively unharmed.

"In here, mostly," Sam answered, helping Janet up. She acted as a crutch for Janet, bringing them both to sit on crates near the computer terminal. "I have to find a cure for this thing Janet," she said quickly, "and I don't even understand what it does!" There wasn't any panic in her voice, as Major Samantha Carter never panicked, but there was definitely haste. The clock was ticking. "Olorun wants me to find a cure, and in return he'll free us."

"You can't possibly believe a Goa'uld will keep his word!" Jane admonished.

"Of course not, but what choice do I have?!" Janet nodded. The objections dully noted, Sam proceeded with business. "You must be familiar with Dr. Freitas' most recent work in mechanical blood cells, right?" Sam asked, receiving a nod.

"Of course. But whatever the Tollan, a people you say consider quantum physics archaic, have developed must be incredibly more advanced than that!"

"Very true," Sam admitted. The scans showed something she didn't even know how to begin understanding without some guidance. "Despite the complexity of the nanites themselves, the processes they perform can't be much different than the processes of natural cells, right?"

"I suppose so," the Doc conceded, beginning to see what Sam was getting at. "Most likely Olokun only modified programming, not mechanical design. So whatever these nanites are doing is something they're mechanically designed to do. They're just doing it too much or to the wrong cells, which makes them harmful. It's analogous to a tumor. In a tumor the cells themselves aren't harmful. It is the gross overabundance of them that causes damage."

"Exactly!" Sam exclaimed triumphantly. "If I can figure out 'what' they're doing, that may lead to 'why.' That would guide me in the 'how,' which is what I need to reverse or at least stop. But I don't remember enough anatomy and physiology from college to understand what these nanites are doing. And field medic training certainly didn't cover this."

"What are the symptoms displayed by the ill Jaffa?" Janet asked, turning to the computer terminal in front of them.

Sam scrolled through the information which was fortunately written in English. If it hadn't been, then she would have needed Daniel in there too. "The very old Jaffa succumb the most easily," Sam began, "and those with the youngest symbiotes."

"That makes sense," Janet explained. "The Jaffa themselves have no independent immune systems, and depend entirely on the healing abilities of the symbiotes within them. Therefore the youngest—and consequently weakest—symbiotes will have the hardest time fighting the nanites."

"But what about the older Jaffa? Why are they weaker than others even with strong symbiotes?"

Janet pondered this for a moment. "Teal'c and I have discussed his people's physiology before, but at the moment I wish I knew more. I do know that as a Jaffa gets older his connection to the symbiote weakens. Most likely this is because of the ageing of the symbiote pouch itself. That would weaken the symbiotes ability to heal the Jaffa, making both more susceptible to illness."

"All of this makes perfect sense," Sam agreed, "but the causes of death from numerous Jaffa afflicted by the nanites contagion are all diverse. Some seem to suffocate, showing evidence of bleeding in the lungs, while others die of common bacterial infections that simply take over. Some succumb to skin cancers or pneumonia. Finally others die from heart arrhythmias! Tell me you see a pattern here Janet." Sam's minimal biology background wasn't helping her see what all of these deaths had in common, if anything. And there had to be something in common, right? They were all killed by the same programmed nanites, so her logic followed that they should all die similar deaths. There was a reason she went into astrophysics and not biology. Biology had too many uncontrolled and misunderstood variables to ever make any reliable predictions. Physics was precise and predictable, with rules and clear signs of cause and effect: just perfect for a control freak.

Janet didn't answer immediately, or even in the next several minutes. She skimmed the medical reports on the screen in front of her, scrolling through in search of similarities. She had a theory, but needed more support before she would voice it. The parallels between cases were subtle, but present in an important way.

"There is most certainly a pattern," Janet remarked, more to herself than Sam. Noting Sam's expectant glance, Janet explained her train of thought. "The post-mortem scans of each victim showed a minimal presence of the nanites. Unlike a virus or bacterial infection, which uses thousands or millions of organisms to overwhelm the afflicted host, these nanites are efficient enough to kill with anywhere from a couple dozen nanites to almost a hundred."

"How can so few be so damaging?" The idea that so small a group of such miniscule machines could kill a Jaffa in a week or so was horrifying. The smallest capillaries in the human or Jaffa body are about four microns (micrometers) in diameter. These nanites were oblate spheres , about three microns in diameter in one direction and two in the other. At three millionths of a meter maximum length, even a hundred of these things would be a small force against the healing abilities of the Goa'uld. Wouldn't it?

"Don't underestimate them Sam," Janet cautioned, sharing a similar line of thought. "These things are probably incredibly good at what they do. Don't forget that a Dr. Freitas' 'microbivores' could theoretically clear up a terminal systemic infection of the bloodstream in two hours."

"If we are to assume that these are incredibly more advanced—which I think is a very safe assumption—then why do they take so long to kill, and do it so differently?"

"It's subtle, but these diverse causes of death all have something in common. Look for the sites of greatest internal bleeding."

"The worst bleeding was in the lungs, liver and spleen," Sam said with a question in her voice. Where was Janet going with this?

"I think I understand," Janet said hesitantly, staring at the scan of the nanites. "The purpose of these nanites, which appear to be built for easy passage through the bloodstream, are presumably similar to Dr. Freitas.' Their capabilities when it comes to containment and transportation of oxygen or waste gasses, and probably the dual ability to digest and excrete harmful pathogens are much more sophisticated than Freitas.' But I believe the intent of the nanites is controlled by the small range of duties the body's own blood cells perform."

"If I'm understanding you correctly," Sam started, "then Olokun modified the programming that governs one of those processes to harm the body."

"Exactly. A Jaffa's immune system may be suppressed and controlled by his symbiote, but the mechanics of the immune system still exist. It is just that the symbiote is boosting and directing the immune system's responses. The symbiote tells the white blood cells and other components of the immune system what to attack, and they do. But these nanites don't take directions from the symbiote, and the directions they have been given are destructive. They have been programmed to suddenly see the body's own immune system cells as the enemy, and to destroy them. That is why they go for the lungs, liver and spleen first. Each of those organs contain fixed reticulo-endothelial phagocytes." Sam, usually a pro at large terminology, balked at that term. "It's just a fancy term for bacteria and pathogen destroying cells that stay in one place as the blood is filtered through the organs. Unlike the white blood cells that circulate in the blood seeking out pathogens."

"I see," Sam said without victory. She understood now what she was up against and it wasn't pretty. Especially considering she was infected. "The nanites attack the body's own immune system, causing internal bleeding and a sudden AIDS-like immune system deficiency. The immune deficiency leaves the body open to opportunistic infections and cancers. Internal bleeding lowers the blood pressure drastically, creating heart arrhythmias which lead to heart failure. And the damage to the lungs itself can be enough to cause oxygen deprivation." It was a grim diagnosis.

"Precisely," Janet confirmed. "And most likely all Olokun did was change the nanites' definition of a what to destroy, leaving all other functions intact. They would kill much more quickly, if the nanites weren't still delivering oxygen and removing waste gasses from the cells. The nanites work to save and support some cells, while simultaneously destroying others. The symbiote fights the damage, but is overwhelmed."

"So now I have to figure out how to reprogram them," Sam said with determination. Now it was her turn to get to work. If Olokun's minions could do it, so could she, right?

* * *

A/N: You made it! Congratulations! It wasn't overwhelmingly long, but it was intense. And now that i've established our enemy (in the form of the contagion) I can get back to our characters. Don't forget that Sam is infected, Janet has a gaping wound, and Jacob is unconscious. There is much more to come! (Expecially of the Sam/Jack variety. Are you excited? I am!)  
  
And please review! Feedback has an incredible impact on my motivation to write! More feedback= more story  
  



	11. Monologues

A/N: I apologize if this chapter bores some of you. It was necessary though, as the line "sam worked really hard, for a long time, and made little progress" wouldn't make for a very good read. I promise lots of huge excitement and some very shippy, dramatic moments in the next few chapters though!  
And hopefully my dividers will show up this time. They were edited out somehow by in chapter 10. 

* * *

Janet was through with walking—her legs were going on strike—by the time the Jaffa got her back to the holding cell. Thankfully the Colonel was fast enough to catch her in a half-hazard manner before she could hit the floor face first.

"Easy there Doc," he cautioned her good-naturedly. "You never let me out of bed when I'm in such poor shape, and yet here you are—gallivanting all around the mothership." He tsk-tsk'ed while helping her settle comfortably against the far wall, earning a glare from her that could boil ice.

"If you ever bring this incident up as proof that you should be discharged from the infirmary early, I will have your hospital gown stapled to your bed." Janet didn't even bother to add a 'Sir' as an afterthought. She outranked him in medical matters anyway.

"You know how flimsy those things are," he rebutted. "It wouldn't be much of a deterrent."

"Then I'd staple you to the bed!" She spoke this time through gritted teeth as she tried to tighten the dressing on her leg wound. Very seldom in her life had she regretted being a doctor. Wealths of medical information were useful in most situations of this sort—when it meant there was something she could do. In this case all it meant was that she knew exactly how bad her leg wound was, and how much worse it was going to get. Second and third degree burns on most of the front and side of her lower leg and extensive muscle and soft tissue damage internally. In her first examination she had hoped the internal damage wasn't too bad, but the continued bleeding was a bad sign. She was certain the artery was fine, as the bleeding wasn't high pressure or bright red. Hopefully it was just a nick in one of the larger veins, and nothing more serious. Hopefully. She consciously shut the injury out of her mind at this point. 'Don't dwell!' she chided herself, shushing the part of her brain that insisted on continuing to search for a diagnosis or solution—some things are just hard wired. The Colonel's question was a welcome interruption to her thoughts.

"What did you learn?" he asked, entering interrogation mode.

"Olorun has Sam working in some lab to find a cure for the Olokun's contagion."

"How is she supposed to do that?" Daniel interjected.

"She has a computer terminal separated from the rest of the ship's systems with a lot of symptomatic information, and some mechanical descriptions and technical scans. There are a collection of engineering and diagnostic tools at her disposal. Olorun has allegedly given her everything he has on the contagion. She is to find a cure, or we all die."

"Of course," the Daniel commented unhappily. "And if she doesn't find a cure she and Jacob die, leaving the rest of us doomed anyway."

"Was she showing any symptoms yet?" the Colonel inquired. She had a unique physiology and it was uncertain how and how quickly the nanites would affect her.

"She seemed fine through most of our discussion. There were no signs of fever or illness yet."

"That's good to hear." If her symptoms developed quickly and overwhelmed her efforts toward a cure, she was as good as dead. "Was there anything useful in that lab?" the Colonel asked quietly, conveying his meaning in his glance.

"No, sir," Janet said with a sigh of defeat. "Sam said the tools she was given were fairly innocuous."

"She won't have time," broke in a voice from the edge of their circle, surprising all.

"Jake!" Jack said, turning to the prone figure. "Nice of you to join us."

"I was listening," Jacob started, unnecessarily. "The Tollan technology is too advanced, even for most of the select Tok'ra scientists who have been allowed to try to understand it. The engineering and physics they use in their designs is based on mathematics and physics far beyond even what Sam understands. That is why it took the System Lords so long to figure out who to blame. It just didn't seem possible that a Goa'uld would be able to make the changes necessary to turn the Tollan's medical technology into a plague." He finished with a hacking cough, his breath spent.

"So she has to do the impossible," the Colonel summarized nonchalantly, trying to keep spirits up. "She does that everyday."

"That is impossible!" Sam said out loud, seeing no reason at this point to refrain from sharing her frustration with her guards. Maybe she could annoy them do death.

Sam had been pouring over the images of the nanites for almost five hours since Janet had left, trying to understand the mechanics behind their programming. The water the human slave had brought her was gone, but the food was forgotten and untouched. The bowl's contents didn't smell like much (from a distance anyway—and it seemed smarter not to examine too closely) but the chunks of what appeared to be meat just seemed like a bad idea. Despite the amount of water she had consumed, she was still incredibly thirsty. She was uncomfortably warm and had started to perspire. As her head began to throb her symptoms could no longer be shrugged off.

"Dammit!" They had probably been on the ship for about twelve hours, and she imagined that was plenty of time for the nanites to find her and get to work destroying her from the inside out. Not that she was surprised. She gave a small humorless laugh. SG-1 seemed to have taken up residence between a rock and a hard place. Thankfully (in a roundabout way) Janet had removed her spleen a year and a half earlier after a mission went bad and she took an arrow at an odd angle. Maybe it would progress more slowly in her since it had less to attack, or because she had no symbiote. Or maybe that would leave more nanites to go after her lungs. All the more reason to find an answer.

"It's so damn intricate I would be in awe under different circumstances," she explained to her guards. The one on the left ignored her, continuing to stare at the far wall. The one on the right just met her eyes, following her movements. She was aware that he had been watching her closely.

"The nanites are made out of naquadah themselves, which allows them to withstand incredible internal and external pressures. And the shape—they look like tiny, short eggs. Have you ever tried to crush and egg in your fist without using your thumb?" The Jaffa didn't answer so she assumed that was a 'negative.' "The pressure is transferred and balanced throughout the shell and its contents, so it won't break." She spun around, gesturing to the images she had pasted to the wall of the nanites innards. "This uses a similar technique. Which just makes it that much harder to destroy." Sam trailed off in thought, her hands on her hips.

"The entire thing designed from the molecular level up. Individual atoms are bonded and aligned just so, with everything in its place. The outer shell is seamless at first glance, but is embedded with telescoping arms like Freitas' that physically grab the microbes. And instead of being directed into an ingestion port like the one Freitas has designed, it hugs the microbe to itself tightly. Then it makes an incision, and literally sucks out the internal contents of the microbe, breaks them down into their component parts—cellulose, mitochondria, nitrogen bases, etc.—that the body can then use for repair."

"It's beautifully efficient!" she explained, still pacing slowly in front of the images. Only occasionally did she turn to face her audience. "But Olokun ruined it. It still destroys, but doesn't digest. The microbes or errant cells are torn apart and left to poison the bloodstream. Most likely they still deliver oxygen to the rest of the body's tissue because the nanites needs the gas exchange to maintain structural integrity, and it appears to be a core function of the design. That part isn't controlled by programming. It is controlled by sensitive internal pressure sensors."

"And the glucose engine is deceptively simple, but efficient and effective. It might possibly be the worst part about all of this, although I understand why they use it. Other fuels in the body could easily be used to fuel these bugs, but this one is the closest to the body's natural processes. And more importantly, this tiny glucose engine doesn't care about electromagnet interference." Both Jaffa were starting to look less than pleased with her running monologue, but she continued anyway. Speaking out loud made it easier to concentrate with the increasing pounding in her head. Did the Goa'uld have advil?

She paused for a moment and sat on her stool with her head in her hand, staring down at the floor. The images themselves were redundant. It was all in her head now. She just had to sift through, and find the central computer. It's design would give her the clues she needed to learn how to communicate with it—and hopefully to reprogram it.

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Thanks for reading! Please review, if only to tell me it was worth the handful of minutes of your life that it to took to read.  
  
And i'm taking a bit of a poll for a decision about some upcoming chapters. Does anyone want to see some (subtle most likely) Daniel/Janet ship? It won't be nearly as large a part of the plot as Sam/Jack, but I can definitely expand on their friendship in a shippy direction. Just tell me what you want!  



	12. Confrontations

A/N: I take feedback and suggestions very seriously, and a couple of you (you know who you are) had a couple of suggestions to make this chapter--which i'm glad everyone enjoyed so much!--a little bit better. I changed the identity of Sam's attacker, and had Jack zatted. I'd love to know if anyone thinks this is better, worse, or really doesn't see the difference.  
  
And i hope to have the next chapter up later tonight!

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Sam hadn't made the conscious decision to take a nap, but suddenly she found herself being startled awake from where she had fallen asleep at the table.

"Get up, Tau'ri!" one of her Jaffa guards bellowed, bringing her quickly to her feet in a defensive position. Or rather, what was supposed to be a defensive position. She had in reality been overwhelmed by dizziness and a strong sense of queasiness at her abrupt change in position, and had rather awkwardly sunk to the floor with her hand over her mouth. Her stomach turned, but she fought it and climbed to her feet.

Before she could get back to work—as she was assuming that was the desire of the Jaffa who still stood before her—the door to the cargo bay opened and four Jaffa walked in. Her two regular guards, the largest of the bunch, grabbed her forcefully by her arms and marched her from the room without explanation. The rest of the Jaffa followed in formation, she supposed in case she was any trouble. She almost laughed out loud at that notion. At this point, she was out of breath from the walk!

After several minutes of walking they reached a very familiar set of doors. Sam took a deep breath and swallowed her dread. The doors opened and she stepped, with as much confidence as she had the energy to muster, into Olorun's throne chamber. He stood in front of the throne with his hands clasped behind him, smiling coldly at her arrival. She did not return his smile as the Jaffa forced her to her knees, instead communicating her loathing with a sharp glare.

"For a scientist of such reputable skill, I imagine you have progress to report," Olorun stated with an air of challenge. He stooped to her level and grasped her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Or are the legendary SG-1 as incompetent as I believe?" He gave a final sneer, glancing at her disheveled state, and stood. "What have you discovered?"

"I understand now the original purpose of the nanites, and how they have been modified," Sam began, thinking that this was considerable progress considering her current health and the small amount of time she had been working. She hadn't even had a full twenty-four hours to work on this!

"And a cure?" he pressed with feigned nonchalance. He paced slowly as he spoke, as if she was not worthy of his attention.

"I don't know how to stop it yet," she confessed, "but I'm getting close." She was bluffing there, but hoped he wouldn't call her on it. She in reality had no idea how much longer this was going to take.

"That is good to hear," Olorun responded, but in a manner that made her question his sincerity. He was up to something, and she wasn't looking forward to discovering the specifics.

"Perhaps all you need is sufficient motivation," he said with a leer, pausing his movement to turn to her. "I have sent for one of your teammates," he explained. "All you need is sufficient motivation, and I'm sure this will be resolved quickly. Is the threat of torture to your teammates sufficient?" He took her wide eyes as an affirmative.

Olorun's first prime was given the privilege of choosing the teammate, and escorting her back to the cargo bay. Ro'tak whispered his choice to one her guards, and dispatched a group to gather him. Ro'tak led her and a group of Jaffa back to the cargo bay himself. When they reached the cargo bay Ro'tak followed her to her workspace while the rest waited outside.

Sam didn't have the chance to get back to work before she felt her feet swept out from under her by the Ro'tak's staff weapon. Her reflexes and strength were weakened by the toll the nanites were taking on her body, and she felt cold fear in he bones as the Jaffa straddled her and held a knife to her throat.

"I have grown tired of this game," he sneered, spitting his words in her face. Her arms remained pinned by his knees and her legs by his weight. The knife was cold against her fevered skin.

"If you harm me your god will have you killed," she warned him. "I am your only chance to survive this."

"This is merely an exercise by my god to demonstrate for all the impotence of SG-1," he rationalized. "You will find no cure, as you have not the powers of a god. If it is the will of my god I will die of this plague. It is a punishment for all Jaffa for the disloyalty of shol'va's like your friend Teal'c." There was a fire in his eyes—an anger and appetite—that worried her.

"That's not true," she argued, knowing even as the words left her mouth that they would do nothing. "Olorun is no god! And he can't stop the plague! But I can."

"You cannot." He was certain. "But if we are both to die soon, I see no reason not to take advantage of what my god has delivered to me." He ran his free hand through her hair, grasping her head and pulling her into a rough kiss.

She resisted, trying to squirm out from underneath him, without progress. He used the knife to slit her t-shirt open, and initiated another bruising kiss as his hands groped beneath it. Her moment came as he forced his tongue into her mouth, and she bit it—hard. The attacker yelped and pulled back. In this brief moment of distraction she was able to pull one of her arms out from underneath his knees. Blood poured from his mouth but she barely noticed as she used her now free arm to gouge her knuckles into his eyes. He cried out in pain and took his focus off her momentarily. It took energy she didn't know she had, fueled by adrenaline and terror, to roll sideways and throw him off her. Crawling away as quickly as she could, Sam searched for a weapon. Anything! The wrench-like tool she had spotted earlier would be handy, but she was at least fifteen feet from the lab table it was on. Crawling wasn't getting her very far, and the Jaffa was quickly recovering to pursue her. As he lunged for her she grabbed one of the empty boxes she had used as a stool and swung it behind her toward his face. He batted it away before it could connect and tackled her, and she screamed out as she felt the bones in her left wrist snap.

He used her pain against her, grabbing that wrist and pulling her to her feet. She saw stars as he pushed her forcefully up against the wall with his body, and her head stuck the wall hard. He forced her legs apart with his knee, and reached for the zipper of her BDU's. Sam refused to submit, pushing the agony of her broken wrist and the pounding of her head to the back of her mind. His positioning put her left leg slightly between his, and she lifted her knee to his crotch with as much power as she could, forcing him into a distracted crouch. The Jaffa continued to hold her to the wall with his body, but was not being nearly as careful now. She suddenly saw her opportunity, and grabbed for the knife in his hand. As she grabbed for the hilt he tried to move it away, slicing into the palm of her right hand. She ignored the pain and fought for the knife. Her left wrist was almost useless, but she used it anyway. Deciding she wasn't worth the effort or the pain she was inflicting he turned the knife towards her chest, intent on ending this. They were both gripping the knife and forcing it towards the other when the door to the cargo bay opened. The Jaffa had returned with the chosen teammate.

In a moment of desperation Sam forced the knife between Ro'tak's ribs and into the his heart, ending both of their struggles. As his life drained out of him and onto her hands, she paused only long enough to take a breath before shoving him away from her. She still had the knife, and knew of only one way she could use it to her advantage against the Jaffa who now had their weapons raised. Still leaning against the wall, with the body of Olorun's first prime slumped on the floor at her feet, she raised the knife to her own throat. She pressed the bloody knife hard enough against her neck to draw beads of blood that dripped down her neck.

"You cannot win," one of the Jaffa stated arrogantly. There were five Jaffa in total facing her, all with zats raised. Only three of the five aimed at her, but she knew they would not risk firing at her in such a clearly weakened state. The remaining two Jaffa had their zats raised and aimed at the teammate they had chosen to use for motivation: the Colonel. His hands were bound behind his back and a black hood blocked his vision. She could read the tension in his body and knew he would kill to know what was going on at that moment.

Obviously word of this incident had spread quickly, as Olorun walked through the door himself a moment later, flanked by Jaffa. He wore the hand device, but Sam knew it was useless as well in this situation. It would only put more pressure on the knife.

Sam spoke before Olorun could, asserting control of the negotiation. "If you want me to continue working for a cure, I need a gesture of good faith."

Olorun actually laughed. "Good faith? I do not believe you understand who you are dealing with, my dear."

"I could say the same to you. This setup has to change. No more Jaffa in the room with me. You can have as many outside as you feel you need, but none in here."

"I find it hard to believe that you are willing to take your own life for the sake of privacy," he rebutted.

"I'm not finished," she spat. "I can find a cure, but I can't do it by myself. The colonel stays."

"That I unacceptable," Olorun protested. "You cannot expect me to allow you and your teammate to conspire unobserved."

"That's the deal, take it or leave it."

"If you kill yourself I will end the lives of your friends as slowly and painfully as possible," he threatened.

She dreaded doing that to her friends, but knew she had no choice. "I'm dying anyway, and if I die before I find the cure they face the same fate. I have nothing to lose." It was a lie. She had plenty to lose, including the man in front of her.

Olorun paused, considering. Perhaps her teammate would be of use to her in speeding up the process. Sweat poured from her face and blood soaked her clothing. Her left arm hung loosely at her side, but he could see the bruising from the break. And as she waited for a response her breathing was heavy and raspy.

"I will allow it," he said with confidence, as if it had been his idea all along. "You are too pathetic at the moment to pose any threat, and may require his assistance. As a demonstration of my graciousness, I will indulge your weakness."

"I want to keep the knife," she demanded, keeping it pressed against her pulse. "Against a group of Jaffa you know I stand no chance even with a knife. You have nothing to lose."

It was a true demonstration of Olorun's desperation, which he was doing his best to hide, that he agreed. "One dagger against my forces, with you already imprisoned and weak, is nothing more for you than a security blanket. Keep it with you, but if you betray or fail me, I will use it to slit the throats of your companions myself."

"Agreed. Leave the Colonel and myself. I will contact you through the Jaffa outside the door with news of my progress."

"You do not have long to live," he reminded her. "Two days at most. Work quickly." With that he signaled for the Colonel to be zatted once and abandoned, still bound and hooded. He crumpled to floor, and was still. The Jaffa followed Olorun from the room, and she assumed were posted outside the door.

The relief and shock that hit her were just too much and she could stand no longer. With silent tears dripping unnoticed from her chin, she slid to floor with the knife now at her side.

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Please review! It gives me the motivation to write faster (and you've seen how much my writing has slowed since i've been swamped with school).  



	13. Changes

A/N: Thank you everyone for your patience in waiting for this next chapter! Unfortunately the first few weeks of school have been hectic, as i caught both a cold and an ear infection. I'm feeling better and getting back on top of things, and hope you like the results. My roommate has been bugging me to write on behalf of both herself and all of you, and i finally found some time. If you missed it, i reposted chapter 12 with some small changes, so you might want to skim that first. But i hope you enjoy this chapter, and i will of course have the next up as soon as possible!

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Jack came to his senses quickly, as the shot hadn't completely knocked him out. He pretended for a moment though, lying still as he waited for the sounds of retreating footsteps and a closing door. When he was as certain as he could be that the Jaffa were gone he rolled to his side and pulled himself into a kneeling position. It wasn't easy to do with his hands tied tightly behind his back, but fortunately for him at that moment, he had been in this position before countless times. Once on his knees he leaned forward to shake the loosely fitted cloth off of his head.

His sight restored he glanced about to make a quick assessment of the room. He had gathered the gist of Carter's struggles, and victory, from his blind witnessing of Olorun's concessions. The tension and exhaustion in Carter's voice spoke volumes of the state she must be in. And yet he was somehow still entirely unprepared for what he saw as his eyes found her, still slumped against the wall.

"Shit!" Climbing to his feet he rushed to her side. Her regulation black t-shirt was hanging open, but it wasn't the sight of the expanse of skin or the black cotton bra that had his attention so riveted. It was the blood, which he prayed wasn't her's as he rushed to her side. The tattered edges of the shirt and her bra were heavy with it, but didn't show it well. But it colored the pale skin of her chest, stomach and right arm with a shade of red that nothing else on earth—or any other planet for that matter—could match in vibrancy. If only because it was the color of life.

Shoving aside the body of Olorun's first prime, which had been disarmed and left for her consideration, Jack tried to get her attention. Her eyes were open but glazed and she didn't acknowledge his presence. He still didn't know exactly what had happened here, but he had a very good imagination.

"Carter!" he barked, leaning his face close to hers. It took a long moment but she met his eyes, the exhaustion in them shaking him to the core.

"I can help you Sam," he promised quietly, wishing he could give her his strength through more than just encouragement. "But you need to help me first. Cut the bonds." He watched the soldier in her reassert itself, as she pushed the pain and exhaustion into the background. That had always amazed him about her. There sometimes seemed there was nothing she couldn't handle, even things no one should ever be asked to handle.

She lifted the bloody knife that was still clutched in her right hand to the twine that bound his wrists as he held them out behind them. The knife was sharp, as any first prime's dagger should be, and he was quickly free.

Immediately upon gaining this relative freedom he checked her for injuries, still worried a great deal of the blood just beginning to dry on her skin was her own. She was still pretty out of it, probably going into shock, and stiffened in fear as he ran his hands over her skin beneath the shirt. It only confirmed his fears.

Resting his right hand on her cheek he guided her to look him in the eyes. He saw no recognition there.

"Sam," he said softly, willing her to come back to him. "It's just me, Jack." Not that she ever called him that, but he wasn't going to refer to himself as "sir."

"Jack…" she whispered, surprising him. Guess there was a first time for everything. If the situation had been less dire he would have teased her about it.

"I'm here now," he said, trying to get her stay with him. Having found no serious wounds on her torso, he kept his right hand on her cheek and felt her limbs for broken bones with his left. "I see you've been taking on the world without me," he joked. It was what he did.

"Shit, sir!" she gasped, as he encountered the broken bones in her left wrist. He knew from experience that nothing got someone's attention like sudden pain, and although he hated being the cause of it he knew he needed her alert.

"I'm going to have to set that, Carter," he said with a grimace, taking his right hand away from her cheek so he could hold her left hand with both of his own. It was a bad break and he didn't want the jagged edges of the bones to cause any more damage. She nodded slowly to herself in acceptance as he looked for something to use as a splint it. He grabbed what a couple of what were probably data crystals, but looked like translucent rulers to him.

"Do you need these?" he questioned, bringing them to her side. She shook her head, no, already understanding what he was going to do as her mind cleared. Sam wanted nothing more than to curl up on the floor in a ball and pass out. But that wasn't an option. She had work to do.

"You ready?" he asked, settling himself before her. She took a deep breath. "Yes, sir," she answered with as much strength as she could muster. "Just do it quickly."

He had ripped the sleeves and a bit of bottom off of his t-shirt, and torn the fabric into strips. He placed spread them out on the floor like the rungs of a horizontal ladder, and placed the two crystals on top of them cross-wise. Then he did the part he knew would be the worst. Grasping her wrist on either side of the break he pulled as hard as he could, fighting swelling ligaments and muscle to pull the bones back into place. She couldn't help the cry of agony that escaped her and he didn't blame her. He had been less than cooperative while she had been setting his leg in Antarctica.

The worst part was over now that the bones were back in place, and she was quiet again. He could see the tension in the set of her jaw while silent tears ran down her face. Lowering her forearm to the floor over the crystals, he began to tie the crystals in support from her fingertips about two-thirds of the way to her elbow. It wouldn't keep it completely immobile, but would help.

About halfway through she finally gave in and passed out, and Jack couldn't help but wish she had sooner. They had nothing in the way of painkillers and it was obvious she needed the rest. She was resting awkwardly against the wall behind her so he finished quickly and shifted her so she was lying on her side, then tied the bottom corners of the front of her t-shirt together to preserve as much of her modesty as possible. It covered what mattered.

He assured himself that she was breathing normally and that her pulse was strong and steady before leaving her side to check out the room. In the past fifteen minutes the circumstances of their capture had changed dramatically. Olorun's first prime had died in front of his own Jaffa's eyes, and he had done nothing. In fact, in his desperation for this cure Olorun had given them more than just a knife and privacy. He had given them information, although little of it was good.

The Colonel was now certain that Olorun didn't have a sarcophagus. If he had one than Carter's threat to take her own life would have been meaningless. For that matter, if he had a sarcophagus her own natural death from the illness would not be such an important deadline as he could just bring her back.

Which meant that if she didn't find a way to save herself in the next forty-eight hours she was dead. Permanently. Which was an important qualifier in Jack's mind. And he knew no matter how much he wanted to, there was nothing he could do to find a cure for her. It was ironic really, that she had saved the planet several times but couldn't save herself. Not that she couldn't! But even he had to admit at the moment that it didn't look good.

Walking around the room Jack took in his new surroundings. He was still a prisoner, in a room he couldn't easily get out of, but things were different now. They had a whole lot of technical looking stuff, a knife, and a computer. He could work with this.

When Sam came to it happened quickly. She went to sit up into a more defensible position and cried out as she put weight on the broken wrist, and reopened the gash in her right palm. The Colonel was at her side in an instant.

"Take it easy," he ordered, if such a thing could be made an order.

"How long was I out?" she asked, cradling her left arm in her lap as he examined her right palm.

"Only about an hour," he said as he tore another strip from the bottom of his shirt. If this kept up he was going to be sporting a fashion that he didn't think was appropriate for a man his age. Wrapping it tightly around her hand he staunched the bleeding.

"Can you do this?" he asked, still holding her hand in his. She didn't have to ask him what he meant. She knew.

"I have to," she said, taking her hand back and climbing to her feet. That wasn't technically what he had asked but he let it go. She knew the stakes.

Carter's steps weren't strong, but they were steady as she walked back to the lab table and perched herself on one of the crates. He followed, uncertain if there was anything he could do but lurk over her shoulder. He doubted it, but asked anyway.

"Actually," she began, "there is something you can do." She led him to the computer console and seated him in front of it.

"The biosensors in this room are active," she explained. He really hoped she wasn't going to get technical. "They can sense the nanites inside of me because they are constructed of naquadah, but don't sense any signals being emitted."

"Ok-ay," he drew out, still uncertain as to how he could help her with this.

"This is how you get the computer to control the transmission of a signal," she explained, showing him. "And this is how you control the frequency." It was simpler than he expected.

"I can do that," he said with optimism.

"Of course you can, sir," Sam affirmed. Then she grinned. "The Jaffa that have to use these systems aren't exactly rocket scientists either."

"Hey!" he cried in mock protest. "I take offense at that." But in reality he was glad she was still up to joking. It meant she hadn't given up yet.

Sam didn't respond, just smiled. She knew he was much brighter than he gave himself credit for—and he probably knew she knew—but that didn't mean she couldn't play along.

"I have the computer set up to look for transmissions from the nanites," she explained, continuing. "I've started you in the terahertz range since that is one of the better frequencies for passing through organic tissue. You need to work your way through the frequencies, looking for a responding signal. Only then can I reprogram the nanites, if only to tell them to stop."

"I can do that," he said. "What are you going to do?"

"Take a nap," she said with defeat in her voice. "I haven't really slept since we got here, days ago, and even I can only do so much without coffee. With my head pounding like it is, I couldn't reprogram the clock on my VCR right now." It was a true measure of what this plague was taking out of her that she would even admit that, much less willingly rest.

"I'll wake you if I find anything," he promised as she curled up as comfortably as she could against the wall to his left. "I've got your back."

They were the last words she heard before surrendering to a sleep too deep for dreams.

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Please review! And i promise there is some definite ship on the way!  



	14. Risks

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A/N: Sorry about the long wait guys! The first month this year at school this year has been incredibly hectic and i've had writer's block. I got sick at the end of the spring semester so had to take "incompletes" in three courses, which means i'm making them all up now. So while i'm only taking four courses this semester, it feels like i'm taking seven!  
Next friday is the deadline for finishing the incompletes and I have only one left, but its horrendous. And I had a mid-term today, have another tomorrow, and two papers due on monday. So please pray for me! After next friday though, things go back to normal. After that, if my muse cooperates, I should have another chapter or two up a week.  
Even if a little while goes by between posts, don't worry that i'll abandon this story. I hate it when authors do that! I will finish this one, even if it takes a little while. I'll have you know I've even been planting seeds as I write this for a sequel...

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"Hello?!" Daniel called, banging on the solid cell door. "Are you ever planning on feeding us again?" It had been about thirty-six hours since the group had completed their last meal as prisoners, and so far it had been their only meal. If the paste they had been fed even qualified as food. All three were ignoring the hunger as best they could—you could live for days, a week even, without food. But the thirst was somewhat more pressing, and all were beginning to dehydrate.

Although Jacob's condition hadn't changed much for the better or the worse, Janet was not doing well. Daniel had awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of her teeth chattering as she shivered violently with fever chills. Her wound was now infected, and he knew dehydration was the last thing she needed.

Hence the banging and the yelling. He pressed his ear to the door, listening for a response, but heard nothing. With a sign of defeat he retook his place on the floor next to Janet, and she shifted to again rest her head in his lap.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She was curled up as if making herself a smaller target would lessen the now stabbing pain in her leg, or the body-wide ache and nausea of the infection.

"Just be here," she replied quietly, taking his other hand in hers. Daniel just nodded. That he could do.

He watched her fitful sleep in silence, broken only by the soft sound of Jacob's raspy breathing. His thoughts drifted back to Jack and Sam. Where were they? It had been something like two days since he had last seen Sam and he knew the nanites had to be taking a toll on her by now. And why had they taken Jack? When Janet had been taken from them, she had been returned in the space of a couple hours. Jack had now been gone ten or so. It was hard to judge the time and Daniel found himself wishing the Jaffa would at least give him his watch back.

A violent cough from Jacob jerked Daniel's out of his thought and he turned his head to find Jacob awake.

"Welcome back," Daniel said with a sense of irony. "I'm sorry to say that absolutely nothing has changed in the time you've been asleep." Jacob didn't respond right away, but looked contemplative.

" I'm beginning to think I might not make it out of this," he began, to Daniel's dismay.

"I agree things aren't looking encouraging at the moment," Daniel admitted, "but this is far from over. Don't give up yet."

"I'm not giving up," Jacob said in denial. "I'm being realistic. We have all been incredibly lucky in this war we fight, but it can't last forever." Daniel had nothing to say to that. SG-1 especially had been lucky, or unlucky depending on your point of view, but they had always made it out okay.

"I've just had a lot of time to think lately," he continued. "And to discuss, really, since this war is something Selmak and I are in together. Fighting the Goa'uld is my life now, and someday it is going to mean my death. I am okay with that, and so is Selmak. I'm living on borrowed time as it is, and I believe strongly in what we are fighting for. But I know that as a Tok'ra, I will fight to the death."

Daniel remained silent. The truth in Jacob's assertions were undeniable. The Tok'ra had very simple lives and very simple goals from that point of view. Like Teal'c, the Tok'ra were fighting an impossible crusade for not just freedom, but for their very lives. They fought to the death, because the fight and their lives were inseparable.

Was he going to fight to the death? It was a question Daniel pondered after their toughest missions; the one's someone almost didn't make it back from. Like this one. If he lived long enough, would there come a point at which he would step back and allow the younger and stronger to fight in his place? How important was one person in the grand scheme of things? How much should he have to sacrifice?

All of SG-1 made sacrifices daily for the sake of billions of people who were completely unaware or of it or simply sightless and ungrateful. Teal'c sacrificed his family, in bits and pieces. His lost the loyalty of his wife to another man and then her life to his cause. His son grew up without a father. Teal'c sacrificed his place among his people, making himself an outcast and traitor to the very people he was trying to free.

Sam sacrificed the respect she deserved from peers in her field as they smiled and nodded, writing her off as a geek when she explained she worked in "deep space radar telemetry." She sacrificed her relationship with her brother by putting service before family, and would have let her father die believing she was a disappointment to everything he wanted for her. And only now did Daniel realize that she was sacrificing her chance to have a family. At least Teal'c, Jack and himself had had loving marriages, even if they all ended too soon. She had a daughter, but like Teal'c gave up the opportunity to truly be a parent. He wondered where she had been when Paige had taken her first steps, or said her first words. On a different planet? Surrounded by bodies in the midst of battle?

And Jack? For a while Daniel had wondered if Jack had anything left to sacrifice to service. From what little Daniel knew, the terrestrial wars Jack had fought for his country had taken him closer and closer to the point of destroying him. Only his wife and son saved him, and when they were taken Jack had nothing left but a life he didn't consider worth living. In these past few years Daniel thought Jack had regained some of what he had lost, only to see so recently that in some ways nothing has changed at all. He wasn't unaware of the growing bond between the military half of SG-1, and had grilled Teal'c after the quick and hushed resolution of their status as za'tarcs. Teal'c had been reluctant to share their confessions for fear of betraying their honor, but Daniel had convinced him he had a right to know for the "good of the team." How ironic. For the sake of this war, their dedication to the cause, and loyalty to the powers that be they were sacrificing whatever they could have had with each other. He knew that if he had to go back and choose between fighting this war and living to be an old man with Sha're at his side…well he didn't know exactly. Daniel was just glad it wasn't a choice he had to make.

He himself was not so different from Teal'c in some ways. This fight was personal. For a long time he had been willing to fight to the death to get Sha're back, and when she died it was only his promise to protect her son that kept him from walking away. This fight would always be personal. So would be its sacrifices.

"I worry though," Jacob said, drawing Daniel's attention back to the present. "About Sam. Especially now that I've met the granddaughter I didn't even know existed. When I die it will be without regrets. Well," he amended, "without any big regrets. I worry that if she fights this war to the death she will die with regrets. Even if she doesn't realize it. Duty is a lot, but it isn't everything." He chuckled. "She probably wouldn't believe you if you told her I just said that though. Unfortunately, after her mother died, I gave far too much to duty and not enough to my children. Of all the things a father can pass on to his daughter, loyalty to such a fault is not what I would have chosen."

"Then you should tell her this," Daniel broke in. "When she gets back."

"I'm telling you, now," Jacob stressed, "in case I can't. If I don't make it out of here this time, and the rest of you do, you can tell her for me."

Daniel didn't answer, and Jacob took his grudging silence as an affirmative. Daniel, meanwhile, was getting antsy. If Jacob was talking like this it couldn't be good. And he was thirsty! So slipping out from beneath Janet's head he headed back to the door and started pounding again.

After ten minutes of Daniel's pounding on the door and calling out—after which both Jacob and Janet were about ready to bind and gag him—the door opened rather suddenly. So suddenly in fact that if it had not been for the motivation of a staff weapon in his face he might have fallen forward into the unexpected opening.

"Back up!" the Jaffa at the other end of the weapon roared, and Daniel obeyed. "If you continue to beckon for attention I will cut out your tongue, and no one will hear your pitiful pleas."

Seating himself at the far wall next to Janet Daniel paused. "You mean shut up?"

"Silence!" he pulled a zat and cocked it.

"I can do that," Daniel conceded. Just then a human slave entered with a tray of 'food' and water. He set the tray on the floor, but stumbled over Daniel's foot as he went to stand and leave. Daniel grasped the young man's arm's to keep him from falling, and although he was startled to feel something cold and hard in pressed into his hand he didn't let his surprise show. The man bowed quickly in thanks, whispering something quickly before hurrying away.

Daniel waited until after the slave and Jaffa had left, the door sealed shut behind them, before examining the object the slave had smuggled to him. It was one of the communicators the Tok'ra had given them. The slave's words echoed in his head. "Your pleas will be heard if there is one near who can hear them."

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Please review! It keeps my muse alive! And you wouldn't want him o die, would you? (most muses seem to be female but i'd prefer to imagine someone who looks somewhat like michael shanks)


	15. Jokes

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A/N: This is unbetaed, so feel free to point out any mistakes so i can fix them. But tell me what i did right too, please!

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Unfortunately for Jack, scanning frequencies for a response from the nanites was not a complex task. Which meant that after about ten minutes it had become very repetitive and he was, well—bored. So for the past two hours he had been scanning the frequencies rather mindlessly while the rest of his attention focused on her sleeping form. The stress of the nanites on her body, in combination with her other injuries, left her looking incredibly vulnerable. She was curled up rather tightly on her side with her hands near her face. Her good arm was shielding her broken one from harm even in her sleep, hiding most of it from view. What he could see of it was swollen and purple. It matched the bruise on her face from the backhand she had received days earlier. He guessed her body's immune system was too busy fighting the nanites to repair the damage. 

The pain she was in, even in her sleep, showed itself in the furrowing of her brow. She shifted sometimes as if trying to find a more comfortable position on such an inhospitable surface. At that moment, he wanted more than anything to pull her into his arms and somehow make it all better.

Beeping from the computer in front of him brought his full attention back to the job at hand. Success! With more than a little regret at disturbing what little peace she had found in slumber, he shook her shoulder gently to wake her.

"Carter? Time to get up."

She opened her eyes hesitantly and stared up at him with momentary confusion. Then she blinked a couple of times, fighting her way back to reality before giving him her good hand to help pull her up and to her feet. The change in position was too abrupt and she swayed momentarily, almost toppling over. The Colonel had been ready though and caught her, pulling her to him until she was steady. She let herself bask for just a moment in the warmth and safety of his arms before pulling back. At his questioning look, she nodded that she was ok.

"I found the frequency you need to work with" he said as he led her to the terminal. He kept one hand on the small of her back in a gesture of support. Usually she would have been offended that he didn't think she could do it herself, but not today. She felt truly awful, from head to toe, and it took almost everything she had to walk the few steps to the terminal. He wasn't unaware of how much effort every movement was requiring, and pulled another crate over next to the one she was now sitting on.

Knowing he might be taking his life in his hands by asking her to—God forbid—depend on someone, he positioned himself behind her to help support her. She didn't have time to protest before a fit of coughing wracked her body, doubling her forward. He held her from behind as well as he could, and rubbed his hand in circles on her back as she coughed. The fit ended in a sound that was more of a moan than anything else, and he helped her sit back up.

"Relax," he instructed her. "I've got you." She nodded again allowed him to support most of her weight in a sitting position while she dedicated what energy she had to navigating the computer system with her right arm.

"You found the frequency?" she questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah," he confirmed, pointing to certain readings on the screen. And not for the first time, he thanked Olorun for providing a computer terminal that used English instead of Goa'uld. The time that would have been wasted in translation would have made what was already a difficult task damn near impossible. If it wasn't already!

She worked in silence, drawing energy from his support to keep her going. Testing variables and exchanging information with the nanites within her. The programming was complex and she tried her best to understand what she was seeing as she navigated the code. Looking for loopholes, back-doors, or land marks that she could influence.

And the Colonel watched, and held her, knowing this wasn't going to be easy.

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It took four hours of playing around with the code, bouncing signals back and forth, before Sam felt she was making any headway. The Colonel spent the time as best he could. With one ear on constant alert for the return of guards or their god, he did what he could to pass the time and keep her spirits up. He gave her an update on the teammates she hadn't seen in hours, sugar coating it just a tad.

"Dad is doing fine with Selmak's help," he assured her. "Both of course send their best." She smiled a bit at that, which had been his intention.

When he ran out of updates and was again bored with the silence, he told jokes. Bad jokes.

"Why did Senator Kinsey cross the road?" She didn't even dignify that one with an attempt at an answer, but he told her anyway. "Because he was chicken."

It wasn't actually funny, but the fact that he had resorted to such humor was. Very funny in fact. Or maybe the nanites were somehow affecting her sanity, because she burst out in a fit of laughter.

"I knew you thought I was funny," he gloated in jest, which only made her laugh harder. Fighting the giggles that had consumed her she turned to him, muffling her laughter against his neck. He desperately fought the shivers the sensation caused while she recovered.

She kept her head turned to him for a moment so he met her eyes with his own. "I have a joke too," she whispered. "I swear it's worse."

"I doubt it could be worse than that one," he challenged with a smile.

"Want to bet?" she said with a playfully competitive look in her eyes he hadn't seen in a while.

"Sure," he said. "If my joke is worse, then I get to take you and Paige to the cabin on our next downtime." He watched for her reaction as he spoke, but she gave nothing away.

"Fine," she conceded. "But if my joke is worse, you tell me exactly what you and Teal'c got up to when we were caught in that time loop."

He paused, considering. "It's a deal." He was willing to tell her just about anything at this point to keep her spirits up.

"It's a science joke," she warned him, and he made a face. "I said it was worse!" she protested quietly. The effort it required for her to speak was evident but he let her. They both needed the banter, drew strength and hope from it, and it had been too long.

"So," she began, "there are two hydrogen atoms walking down the street."

"That's something I'd like to see," he commented. She rolled her eyes and continued.

"The first atom turns to the second and says, 'Hey! I think I lost an electron!' The second atom then asks, 'Are you sure?' And the first one says, 'Yeah, I'm positive.'"

He groaned at her pun, unsure though if it was worse than his own. "That was definitely bad," he admitted, "but I still think mine is worse."

"Nope," she whispered. "Mine was."

"How about it's a tie then?" he proposed.

Sam thought for a moment before nodding. "Does that mean we both win, or neither of us do?" Her question was a loaded one, but not one he had time to answer before an explosion of some sort rocked the ship, and the lights flickered.

"What the…?" the Colonel asked as he steadied them on the crates. Sam didn't have any answers for him, so she just shook her head. "Guess it's time to get back to work then," he said with reluctance as they turned their attention back to the computer terminal.

"I've almost got it," she whispered with as much determination could. He just nodded, listening to clanking sound of Jaffa rushing past the door. Words were too muffled by the door to be understood, but that was assuming Jack could have understood them anyway. He had not yet learned more than a few words of Goa'uld, and at this rate he was never going to.

"Take your time," he said nonchalantly as the noises in the hall became punctuated with the sound of staff weapon blasts. Luckily, the same noises that were making his heart race in anticipation of a fight-or-flight situation were doing the same to her, and the adrenaline helped her work faster. It would be rather ironic, Jack thought, if they got this close just to get caught in the crossfire of a mutiny or something.

"I think I've got the right signal to shut the nanites down," she said, mostly to herself. "I just need to get it to transmit throughout the ship."

"I thought this computer was independent of the ship's other systems?" the Colonel asked her.

"Mostly," she confirmed, and he left it at that. Hopefully, "mostly" would be good enough for her to work with.

Her right hand moved rapidly across the controls, until two things happened simultaneously. The first was her triumphantly muttering "got it" as she finished initializing the transmission before again doubling over in a fit of coughs.

The second was the Colonel knocking them both to the floor to hide behind the 'workbench' as the door to the cargo bay was breached by explosives. He hoped they had hidden quickly enough to avoid detection, but his hopes were in vain as Carter could do nothing to muffle her coughs.

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A/N: Please read and review! I'm already working on the next part but my muse is slackng on the job so I would love to hear some suggestions about what should happen next. Even if i don't use them, they certainly get me thinking!


	16. Escapes

A/N: Two updates in two days! And its probably not my best work, but its one of those difficult 'transition chapters.' Thanks to all you who reviewed the last chapter and gave me some food for thought.  
And this is unbetaed, so as always feel free to tell me what I messed up so i can fix it!

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Of all the possibilities that flashed through Jack's mind as he waited for whoever had come through the door to find them, SG-10 was not one of them. He had been expecting something along the lines of enemy Jaffa or mechanical bugs. So the familiar sound of combat boots on the metal floor was a surprise, and Colonel Matthew Hunter's appearance around the table even more so.

But it was a good surprise, so he didn't dwell on it long when there was something more pressing demanding his attention. Carter had become suspiciously quiet in his arms. O'Neill laid her unconscious form on the floor to quickly check her breathing and pulse. Her breathing was labored and shallow and her pulse faint and fast, but it was something.

"The others?" Jack asked Hunter as he checked her vitals.

"I sent Richardson with Teal'c to get them," Hunter replied as he stripped off his jacket and gave to O'Neill to cover Sam. "We'll meet them on the ship."

Time was short so Jack wrapped the jacket around her without putting her arms in the sleeves, and then picked her up cradled in his arms. He would normally have put her over his shoulder so he had at least one hand free, but he knew the nanites were doing bad things internally. He feared the pressure on her abdomen would cause or worsen internal bleeding.

Lieutenants Andrews and Sofranko guarded the entrance and signaled when it was safe to move down the hall. Hunter took point, with Andrews on his six and O'Neill following with Carter in his arms. Sofranko brought up the rear as they made their way quickly through the halls. O'Neill could see they had fought hard to make it this far if the bodies in the halls were any sign. Staff blasts and bullet holes marred the walls and power sporadically been cut.

They were outside the nearest ring room when trouble caught up with them in the form of a team of Jaffa. The doors were jammed, which left them backed into a corner. Jack quickly deposited Sam out of the line of fire and caught a zat from Sofranko to join in their defense while Sofranko worked on the controls. He managed to get the doors open but couldn't guarantee his hotwired job would last.

"Go, now!" the lieutenant instructed and then followed, nearly getting his burly form caught in the doors. They quickly assembled themselves on the rings and Hunter signaled the waiting Tel'tak.

The male members of SG-10 had provided a distraction in the form of strategically planted C4—the explosion that Jack and Sam had felt rock the ship—while Teal'c and Captain Emma Richardson rescued the others. So when the rest ringed aboard the ship Teal'c was already at the helm.

"We've got them!" Daniel called from the cargo bay and Teal'c did whatever the Tel'tak version of "flooring it" is.

Unfortunately, the Ha'tak deployed a pair of death gliders when Teal'c had momentarily de-cloaked the Tel'tak so he and the first group of escapees could ring aboard it. He had re-cloaked and moved to avoid them, but they had been lying in wait for the second de-cloaking. One of the gliders got a lucky shot as they sped away.

"What the hell was that?" O'Neill yelled to Teal'c as he settled Sam on the floor next to where Janet sat against the wall, beckoning Richardson over to clean Sam up a bit under Janet's instruction. He made it Teal'c side at the helm just in time to feel the ship take another hit.

"It appears the gliders damaged our cloaking device," Teal'c explained as he maneuvered the damaged vessel. Despite his proficiency as a pilot the cargo ship was just not built for this kind of flying, and the gliders hit them again, and then again.

"Teal'c? What are you doing?" Jack asked as the view shifted and they began to descend towards the planet below.

"I will attempt to lose the gliders in the atmosphere of the planet below," he explained.

The atmosphere he spoke of swirled with dense clouds. They were dark, angry and inhospitable clouds that crackled with lightning as they descended towards them.

"The electrical activity should hide our presence." And it would have, if they had made it into the cloud cover before one of the gliders got in a final, decisive shot.

"I have no choice but to land," Teal'c warned. "Prepare yourselves for impact!"

"Impact?!" Jack questioned as he headed to the back to make sure everyone, especially those who weren't conscious at this point, was 'prepared.' "I thought we were 'landing'?"

"The landing will be rough, at best." Well, that didn't make Jack feel any better but there was nothing he could do about it now.

The two lieutenants positioned themselves around Jacob's unconscious form on the floor, keeping low to the ground so they didn't go flying or fall. Daniel sat with Janet in a similar crouched position, taking special care to protect her wounded leg. And as Colonel Hunter and Captain Richardson could see Jack had Sam taken care of they braced themselves as best they could. Jack pulled Sam into his arms and shielded her with is body from debris or supplies that weren't secured well enough to stay put through their crash landing.

The first touch of ground jarred the ship and shifted even the heaviest of crates. Suddenly under the influence of the planet's gravity the passengers were tossed to the side as the Tel'tak rolled slightly. What happened after that was a mystery to O'Neill as his head struck the bulkhead, and all went dark.

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A/N: Anyone see that coming? I'd love to hear what everyone thinks should happen next. Suggestions? Comments? I'll take any feedback i can get! 


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